


Kirby Olsen's Downward Spiral

by Introverted_Cupcake_x



Series: Downward Spiral [1]
Category: Bully (Video Games)
Genre: Alcohol, Another 'Gary is a prick' fanfic, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Fanart included!, Future, Homophobic Language, Injury, M/M, School Life, Trans Male Character, implied sex, there will be a happy ending I promise!, use of drugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-02-05 23:30:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 42,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12804753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Introverted_Cupcake_x/pseuds/Introverted_Cupcake_x
Summary: Kirby Olsen (almost) has it all - a spot in the school football varsity team, a best friend in Trent Northwick and a normal relationship with every person he meets in school. But with the constant threat of people potentially discovering his secret, he never pursued anything other than the things that he is confident won't lead to such secret being discovered. Until one day he got careless, and Gary Smith of all people discovers his testosterone medication. [Chapter 3 now contains a special commissioned fanart!]





	1. A Bloody Day

Waking up to the blaring ringing of the fire alarm at 7am in the morning, a grumpy brunette groaned as he rolled off his bed and landed on the pile of dirty washing he had been meaning to take to the laundromat in town. Running footsteps sounded like panicked marching mice vibrated across every floorboard of the boys dormitory and crept into his ears and brain until he pushed himself upright to run a hand through his hair. Kirby Olsen opened his eyes with bloody vengeance burning in them. One more hour, and he’d be in perfect physical condition for today’s Gym class, but now he has slept for 6 hours and not the 7 like his football coach demanded that he did.

“Fuckers are gonna get a poundcake if I find out who pulled the fucking alarm…” he grouched and forced himself to his feet, unconsciously picking up his towel, soap, toothbrush and toothpaste. At least he’ll get to use the shower first like he wanted.

While fellow dorm-mates streamed past in their pyjamas (or lack of clothing aside from boxers or briefs) he moved in the opposite direction to the communal bathroom and stripped down after checking that there’s nobody else in. In the mirror, he sees his slim build accentuated with muscles from all the hard work he’s been putting into training as well as two surgical scars beneath his nipples and a tattoo on his upper arm that he was dared to get done at the Blue Skies Industrial Estate - it’s nothing special but it is the symbol of the Bullworth Bulls team. As far as Kirby is concerned, it’s the best thing to ever happen to him. After all the hazing and pranks and fights, the tattoo is his absolute confirmation that he has a place in the varsity team. Not to mention he feels pretty manly. Not that he isn’t or anything, he feels so much pride everytime he looks at it.

Chatter coming from outside the bathroom made him gasp and dash into a shower cubicle and slam the door shut.

“Yo Kirb! Are you in here?” Bo shouted.

“Yeah!” Kirby called back, soaping up his arms, “was there a fire?”

“Not really! Some guy apparently pulled it for $15!” another person shouted that sounded like Trent. His voice brought goosebumps to the brunette’s skin.

“Y-yeah?” Kirby murmured before raising his voice, “any idea who it is?”

“My bets are on Gary!” someone cackled and the noise of bare feet slapping the floor and entering the stalls sounded.

“Don’t say that!” Bo’s voice cautioned, “if he hears you, that crazy dude will do something to your breakfast! Believe me, it happened!”

Kirby nodded to himself. He’s seen Gary. Never spoke to him, but saw what kind of monster he is. He looks like someone who has x-ray vision.

His thoughts broke when Trent’s trademark knock rapped the door to his shower cubicle, almost making him jump and slip.

“Hoi, Kirb, you wanna hit the arcade machine before breakfast?”

“Y-yeah, just gimme 5 minutes!” he said before stepping closer to the shower, letting the tepid water wash over his face and switched it off, pulling his towel from the side and wiped himself. He left the cubicle with the towel tightly wrapped around his waist and inhaled before breathing deeply, and opened the door. Luckily everyone else were too absorbed in conversation or jibes to notice his scars, so he settled for quickly leaving and practically speed-walked back to his dorm room where he threw his clothes on for the day.

Soon as he left his room, Trent was leaning back against a wall and gave him a smile before unfolding his arms and dipped his hands in his pocket. “Come on - first round on me!”

It’s unusual for clique members to interact with each other on a friendly basis, but with Trent and Kirby their friendship is acceptable mostly because the bullies and the jocks have some commonalities. One group just has more interest in sports.

For half an hour, Kirby and Trent took turns on the arcade machine despite a nervous nerd nearby wanting to play, but not saying anything.

“Hey, Algie, are those bullies not letting you play on the machine?” a chill voice asked and Trent and Kirby shot each other a look before glancing behind them to see Gary, arms crossed with a small smirk. Algie gulped and fiddled with his hands.

“U-uh yeah… they’ve been at it for half an hour…”

Kirby felt his lips curl while Trent coolly stared Algie down. Gary sent them a big smile.

“Well then! Why not save your money and let the nerd take over? After all, he could easily take apart the coin dispenser and buy sweets… mostly the money that you guys put in.”

“GARY!” Algie shrieked and covered his mouth and the boys opposite whitened.

“Algie, you dick!” Kirby spat and cracked his knuckles, but something flew at his face and knocked him to the ground with a bloody nose.

“Kirby!” Trent gasped and kneeled down to help his friend sit up.

Gary whistled and wiped his knuckle clean before turning to face Algie. “Now… you owe me. I get two thirds of the money from that machine for getting you a 5 minute play on there.”

“B-b-b-but it takes me three and a half minutes to open and close the compartment!” Algie stammered, “that’ll only leave me with a minute and a half to play the game!”

“Pay me by lunchtime, or you’ll find your homework in the black market shed,” Gary hissed and poked his shoulder before walking away. The large boy whimpered, cursed and stumbled out the common area.

Kirby hissed and swore as he wobbled to his feet with Trent holding him up until he stepped away with a dismissive wave. “Thanks man… shit, fuck I think my nose is broken…” he gasped and kept pinching his nose. Other students in the common room muttered among themselves and carried on with what they’re doing.

“I’m gonna kill that fucking pig Algie and that prick Gary…!” Kirby breathed, “Mr Burton will kill me for not fighting back!”

“He probably would, but that was a cheap shot!” Trent argued, “Gary doesn’t fight fair. We all know that.”

“I’ll get my payback on him one day,” the brunette growled.

Trent didn’t need to, but he walked Kirby to the infirmary before running off to the parking lot as soon as he heard the school bell ring for a start of a new day.

Much later, Trent met Kirby at lunchtime in the mess hall and the blonde noticed a bandage across his nose. He grinned and gave him a thumbs up. “No broken nose, but it’s bruised as hell so I got a sick note excusing myself from Gym class for the day.”

“Damn. Sorry to hear that - I wanted to watch your class,” Trent grinned. His friend rolled his eyes.

“Take part in class then instead of skipping!” he elbowed him as they sat down.

“Then how am I gonna watch you dish out some poundcake?” he taunted, “it’s my fav dessert.”

“Join the football team, then! God!” Kirby sighed heavily. “It’s not that difficult! I only got into the varsity team because I put myself in the Hercules Trials and I almost died. You can just join the reserves team and watch me from there.”

“Nope, too much work,” Trent sipped from an apple carton. “I’d rather get into real fights than fight over a man’s ball.” Kirby snorted into his sandwich. 

“Football is way better than fighting! The only fight you’ll get in football is the dogpiling!”

“Have you ever been dogpiled?”

Kirby grimaced and nodded.

“It’s tradition if you wanna join the varsity team - get dogpiled 10 times without passing out or getting injured, and you pass.”

“That’s stupid.”

“It’s tradition.”

“Still stupid,” Trent sucked on the straw until he made obscene sucking noises inside the near-empty carton. “Why can’t they invent juice boxes that don’t make this stupid noise?” Upon hearing that nearby, a nerd groaned into his hand.

“Meathead…”

Kirby and Trent heard that, simultaneously whipping their heads around to glare at Algernon sitting in the table next to them. He almost pissed himself.

“What was that?” Trent and Kirby growled at the same time.

“Y-you heard me!” Algie squeaked and stood up, pointing at them. “You meatheads won’t amount to anything with your brawn!”

“I’ll give you brawn!” Kirby yelled and stormed towards him when someone stepped in his way and he collided with them. “Move out the way!” But hands clamped down on his shoulders and he looked up, paling when he recognised a the scar over Gary Smith’s right eyebrow. He smirked down at him.

“Kirby, Kirby, Kirby…” he cooed and brushed his arms as though knocking dirt off. “Why so angry? Algie is just being stupid because he’s hungry. Speaking of which…” His smirk dropped and he let go of Kirby before turning around and held his hand out. “You got my payment?”

Beads of sweat ran down Algie’s reddening face. “N-not exactly… a g-greaser took some off me…”

“Which one?” Gary asked coolly.

“V-Vance…”

“Joy!” Gary groaned. “So not only you have lost my payment, but now I’ll have to go through a greaser in order to get it back. Nice. Algie - I’m adding interest to that lot payment. It’s now doubled.”

“You can’t do that!” the large nerd shrieked, “I only got $30 left!”

“Good! Just pay me that instead,” Gary said cheerfully and patted his shoulder. “Drop it off in my room later, then we can forget about your clumsiness!” Algie groaned and suddenly made a dash out the cafeteria with a pee stain showing on his pants. Passing students noticed and laughed.

Kirby still hasn’t calmed down and growled, storming up to Gary. “Hoi! Look what you did to my face!”

Gary stopped, looked and stared at the plaster across his nose. “Got a nose job? I can’t afford that.”

“No, but you can afford to get some anti-psycho pills once in awhile with the money you extort off people!” the brunette spat, crossing his arms. Gasps rippled through the hall as fearful students heard that. Gary’s smile didn’t falter, however, as Kirby somehow noticed the slightest twitch of his eyebrow.

“Please repeat that? I didn’t quite hear that,” he said softly, tilting his head.

“You heard me!” Kirby hissed and poked his chest, “ask me again and I’ll give you some poundcake!”

Gary smirked.

“Can you repeat that?”

Kirby’s blood boiled and his fist flew, but Gary suddenly caught it and more people inhaled. Kirby felt his blood run cold. His usually-muscle-packed punches have never been stopped. Fights with teammates end with banters and laughs about him being a ‘pocket rocket’ - as reference to his height - but nobody has ever stopped an incoming punch of his before. He swore Gary’s eyes turned icy.

“I said…” he whispered, before raising his voice, “CAN YOU REPEAT THAT?” and twisted Kirby’s hand and he screamed as he felt something tear in his wrist. He immediately dropped to his knee, every nerve in his body shrieking. Even then, the taller boy didn’t let go, but instead squeezed hard which added to the pain and ripped a strangled cry from Kirby’s throat. One of the students passed out while another jumped out the window and someone physically threw up in a fruit basket.

Suddenly, the fire bell blared and snapped all the observers out of their stupor, quickly filing out of the cafeteria and desperately trying to ignore Kirby’s shaking, crumpled body on the floor as he held back deep gasps and clutched onto his injured wrist. Gary stood over him with his hands in his pockets, whistling.

“Better get that checked out,” he commented loudly above the noise before walking away.

Kirby’s glazed eyes glared at him and he rolled onto his knees, moving to stand up when pain shot through him and he fell back, only to be caught in Trent’s arms.

“What that actual hell…” he heard him whisper, “come on, the nurse’ll be outside!” Seeing Kirby grit his teeth worried him. “Lean against me, come on…”

Listening to Trent, Kirby leaned against him, feeling himself being guided outside among the manic rush of students while the alarm rang on. But pain still seared in his wrist and hand. Dammit.

“I had to pull the alarm while nobody watched,” Trent whispered in his ear. “It was the only way to get Gary to stop.”

Kirby nodded in understanding and bumped his head against his chin in graciousness. Not even his own teammates would pull of a risky move like that. Pulling the alarm is an offence which often results in suspension from school and immediate barring from any varsity team.

...

Much later in his dorm room, Kirby sat in bed with a cast on his wrist as he miserably read a swimsuit magazine that Trent loaned him. It’s unlikely that he’ll get it back anyway, but the sentiment touched him. After being checked out by the nurse, he has to miss out on MORE physical training for at least 3 weeks. It’s not good enough. There’s a game coming up next week and he wants to be healed right now. Fuck Gary.

Groaning, he pushed the magazine off the bed and glanced at his bedroom door before dipped his left hand under the bed and pulled out a box, opening it and seeing some vials inside as well as needles. Picking one out, with difficulty and using his feet to hold a small vial in place, he pushed the needle through the thin paper and tugged the plunger to soak up the testosterone before pulling it out and pressed out any air from the tube, seeing a couple of droplets fall through the air. Taking one more look at the bedroom door, he breathed in and shuffled the fabric of his pyjama trousers up until his thigh is exposed and pushed the tip of the needle in, pressing the plunger down and injected some testosterone.

After these little sessions, he always leaves to grab soda from the machine, but today after taking painkillers to treat his nose AND his wrist he just doesn’t want to look at any human being. Seriously, Algie is his least favourite person, but Gary might just take that spot (presuming that he doesn’t develop the power to read minds and murder him in the middle of the night.)

The door knocked and Kirby quickly threw the empty vial into the bin and kicked the box back under his bed. “Come in!”

It was Trent, carrying two beer cans with a sheepish grin.

“I snuck these out of the prefect lounge after they caught me tagging the library,”

Kirby smiled weakly and held his hand out, feeling the welcoming chillness cool down his throbbing body. “Thanks, man. I owe you one. Two. Lots of things.”

“It’s what I do for my best friend,” Trent winked and cracked the cold one open, watching foam hiss and he gulped some down. “But you can give me flowers or my magazine back. I haven’t gotten to the guys range yet.” Kirby rolled his eyes and tossed the magazine back at him, almost making him spill his drink over his bed.

“Just admit that you’re gay already!”

“I’ll only do that when you admit it.”

“I’m not gay!” Kirby spat, almost choking on his drink. “I like girls!” Trent snorted.

“Girls? Not women?”

“UGH YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!” the flustered brunette ranted. The urge to throw his beer at him grew stronger.

“I caught you kissing Mandy once!” Trent argued.

“That was a dare! And it felt good!”

Their nonsensical arguing made less and less sense the more they relaxed around each other, eventually leading them to lie down together with empty cans.

“Just admit you’re… uh… bise… bisexu… bisexual…” Kirby yawned, head lolling onto Trent’s shoulder. Where are the prefects getting beer THIS strong from? He glanced at the can and noted that it was 20% alcohol and he swore with a moan. “Fuck, this beer is strong…”

“I’m… PROBABLY bi…” Trent slurred and buried his face in Kirby’s hair, “I like Mandy… and Christi… and Jimmy… oh Jimmy is such a good kisser…”

For some reason, talking about their male classmate stirred annoyance.

“...and you are so soft…” he muttered into his hair and Kirby only just realised the position they’re in. “So so… soft… Kirby… I just wanna kiss your ‘air…”

“Air…?” Kirby mumbled and tilted his head to look up, seeing Trent’s flushed face looking down at him with an indiscernible expression.

“Hair…” his lips breathed and he leaned down. Heartbeat slowed from the alcohol, Kirby closed his eyes and felt Trent drop a kiss on his eyebrow. He almost burst out laughing, but instead he felt drunk butterflies in his stomach celebrating the purified water and fresh crops.

“I love… love.. Your hair…” Trent murmured before his breathing dropped to a steady rhythm and Kirby knew before he even opened his eyes that the taller guy fell asleep.

Seriously? His hair? Kirby sluggishly ran his hand through his hair and nodded to himself. It is rather soft. Is he the only male that uses conditioner?

He didn’t know what time it was, but he eventually dropped to sleep.

…

The bin collection day approached the next morning, and Kirby woke up still being embraced by Trent who definitely needed to brush his teeth after that strong alcohol from last night. But now that the alcohol has worn off, he is sober enough to remember that it would be a funny story if it got out that he and Trent slept in the same bed. He sat up, being careful with his sprained wrist, and poked Trent’s forehead.

“Wake up, meathead,” he prompted. “It’s 6am.”

The blonde groaned and sat up, eyes hazy until his wiped his face. “Damn… what was in those drinks?”

“Not piss,” Kirby muttered and shuddered. “I’m taking out the trash. You better get back to your room before people see us leaving together.”

Still tired, Trent nodded and sluggishly got to his feet, picking up the swimsuit magazine and left the room, but not without saying; “Meet at breakfast?”

“Yeah, now get going.”

Kirby sighed heavily and stepped into his trainers as he tugged the plastic bag out the bin and tied it before walking out. He left through the back door and stopped by the dumpster before merely tossing the bag inside and heard the glass of the used vials inside shatter. Nodding in satisfaction, he walked back inside and shut the door.

Upon hearing the back door shut, Gary stepped out from behind the dumpster with a suspicious frown and hauled himself up to pick up the new addition before opening it carefully. He saw sweet wrappers, rejected love letters from Eunice, drafts of essays and broken glass bottles of some sort, but one was still mostly intact with a sticky label on the side with complicated formulae printed on it. Humming in interest, he pocketed it and just dumped the bag back into the dumpster.

He kept jogging until he made it to the library where he knew that the astronomy club are conducting their early-morning revision club and immediately spotted Algie carrying a stack of physics books to a corner desk. He grinned and waved at him and the nerd almost peed himself again for the second time this morning.

“Chill - forget any debt I gave you that are outstanding and tell me what this is,” Gary whispered as he approached him, out of earshot of the other nerds. He tugged the cracked vial out of his pocket and gave it to the nerd, who frowned as he read the components.

“U-uh… okay… hmm…” he adjusted his glasses. “It’s--”

“AND in plain English, please,” Gary insisted, feeling oddly excited.

“T-testosterone.”

“Oh,” the older boy blinked. “Just that? You’re not lying?”

“N-no, never! I’d never lie to you!” Algie gasped and an exhausted librarian hissed nearby to keep quiet. His voice dropped lowly. “But where did you find this? This isn’t something you get from any normal pharmacy.”

“Really now?” Gary raised an eyebrow, “what else can you tell me about it?”

“It enhances physical performance in sports too, and if I’m correct then this brand is…” Algie peered more closely to the smaller print. “...a banned substance.”

Fire lit in Gary’s mind. It’s like he hit a perfect bullseye using only his toes and cock.

“And? And?” he said excitedly, stepping closer and Algie stared at him.

“It’s not illegal to possess, but this stuff is really hard to get your hands on unless you know a dealer or you receive it for a sex change--”

“Hold the phone!” Gary perked up, feeling pure shock for the first time in his life. “Did you just say… sex change?”

“Y-yeah? What of it?”

Gears churned in Gary’s mind and ideas whispered to him. His smirk grew bigger until Algie felt that he’s being haunted for the rest of his life.

“Thank buddy - you can forget paying me that $30,” he winked before hurrying out the library.


	2. A Fighting Day

English is interesting to say the least. Kirby likes how Mr Galloway just drinks his booze and lets everyone get on with their work. Even more luckily for him the teacher kindly assigned him a laptop to type words down since his right hand is out of commission. It’s an old model, but at least it’s better to deal with lagging or deal with struggling at being temporarily left-handed.

Trent skipped out on English on account that he was caught by a prefect wandering outside and smelled beer on his breath and sent him to the principle’s office, only to run off to the broken-down bus in the carpark to hide for a while. He got Russell to relay the message to Kirby, who nodded and thanked him before the lesson started.

But man… isn’t this assignment too easy for teenagers their age? Although the longer the lesson passed, the higher the difficulty became for some frustrated students.

“Mr Galloway, can I spell ‘c-u-n-t’ in this test?” a jock spoke up and everyone burst out laughing while the teacher almost drowned and slammed his bottle down.

“NO!!!!!”

“What about ‘t-w-a-’”

“Finish that word and I’ll fail you!”

Chuckles reverberated and pens scratched away until the school bell rang and everyone packed their things away. Kirby put the computer on standby, shut it and left it on the desk.

“Ah, Olsen, I hope you get better soon too. The school budget finally came in handy with these laptops for once, hehe!”

…

Trent was waiting for Kirby outside English class - more specifically, in Kirby’s locker as the brunette found out as he opened the door to see the taller guy barely able to fit in. He gave him a sheepish grin and forced himself out.

“Heya - I don’t see any flowers in here.”

Kirby rolled his eyes. “I don’t have any flowers for anyone.”

“Aww not even me?”

“Nope. Now get back in my locker.”

They laughed and wrestled a bit with Kirby trying to push him back inside the locker while the blonde was careful not to hurt his friend’s wrist. Eventually Trent caught him in a harmless noogie and he shrieked.

“Not my hair!”

“‘Not the hair!’” Trent copied him, “what are you, a greaser?”

“Hell no!”

They burst out laughing and walked together down the stairs, watching a stink bomb go off in someone’s locker and causing people to run off, including Algie. Trent leaned down to whisper to Kirby.

“I left that in there as a lil revenge.”

“Thanks.” Kirby clenched his left hand into a fist. “Though I’d have given him a poundcake.”

“Wanna grab a bite in town before class?” Trent suddenly asked, “I heard that Edna is serving Soup Of The Day.” Kirby felt his stomach growl and he nodded quickly.

…

They walked to the parking lot when Kirby noticed Trent walking towards a bike shed and he paused.

“Where’re ya going?”

Trent unlocked the chain from his bike before mounting it and stared at him.

“We’re going by bike - hop on!” he gestured behind him.

“I don’t trust your driving skills,” Kirby pursed his lips and waved his right hand, “and I can’t hold on that well with one hand.” Trent scoffed.

“Says the team’s best wide receiver in a century - if you can hold onto a ball with one arm, you can do it with me.”

Seeing how pressing time is and his hungry stomach growling loudly, Kirby reluctantly sat behind Trent. Luckily his bike has two seats on - two, he wondered why, but this is Trent we’re talking about and he is popular with the ladies. It wouldn’t surprise Kirby if Trent gave a some ladies quality time on his bike. Riding, that is. Inhaling, Kirby wrapped his good arm around the taller male, feeling heat rise to his cheeks at how strong his body feels. Trent may not be a gym-nut like he is, but he’s still well-built - presumably from running away from prefects.

After a wobbly start, Trent soon got pedalling down the long stretch of driveway, narrowly avoiding groups of kids congregated together. He shouted and swore at them.

“Those brats are blind! I coulda knocked one over and the prefects will be on my ass!” Trent ranted. “I saw that new kid Jimmy bump into a girl, and every prefect and cop tried to stop him!”

“Those kids are stupid! I’ll teach them for standing in our way once I find out who they’re are!” Kirby rose his voice to be heard over the whirring bike chain and the roar of the ocean ahead of them as they approached the long bridge connecting Old Bullworth Vale with the school area. The midday sun is fully out without blemishing clouds ceasing it’s burning shine and brought out a rare glimmer in the usually-grey waters. As the bike glided down the bridge, Kirby stared at the sea in awe while the wind swept through his hair and brushed his skin. For a brief moment he let go of Trent and suddenly hugged him again when the bike wobbled precariously.

“Woah, careful!” he scolded him, “I thought I lost you!”

“I was just looking around!” Kirby ranted hotly, “I thought I saw some preps at the beach!” He didn’t see Trent’s smirk.

“Let’s get some takeout and eat at the bridge - I got a plan.”

…

After buying burgers and fries, the two wandered to the end of the pier where Trent chained his bike to a bench and they sat down. Though the day was forecasted to be warm, the chilly air swept in from the sea. Warmth from the takeout boxes on their laps gave them a welcoming feeling as they chatted about the insanity of Bullworth Academy, Jimmy’s strangely good looks and shoes.

“You see those preps down there, by the lighthouse?” Trent suddenly pointed out and Kirby squinted to see three insufferable rich kids beneath the pier by the lighthouse, laughing away about something. The brunette nodded with a mouth full of a fries.

“Mmh? Mwa ohf eh?”

“You still got those marbles you found in the parking lot?” Trent asked, grinning. Kirby glanced at him, swallowing the fries before a idea popped in his mine and he also smirked.

... 

Trent sneakily snuck on top of the pier, looking down at the three preps laughing jollily away as they conversed about the latest aquaberry fashions.

“And then Jimmy suddenly grabbed this one girl’s buttock and she squealed and she slapped ME by accident! The silly cow got apprehended by a prefect and then--”

Snorting, barely able to contain his excitement, Trent yelled down at them; “HEY! TRUST-FUND DICKS!” They immediately looked about when one of them pointed at Trent angrily. “COME UP HERE AND SUCK SOME DICK!”

“And why would we sully ourselves with a commoner?” a brunette - who Trent recognised as Bif Taylor - scoffed. His mates laughed.

“Because everyone knows that you rich kids are all closet faggots!”

That finally spurred an angry reaction and Trent grinned as he watched them run towards the ramp leading up to his position. He quickly waved at the window to the beachhouse where Kirby stood at from inside and he quickly opened the window with his good hand before rolling out a bag of marbles onto the wooden floorboards. With perfect timing, the furious preps stormed up the ramp when they suddenly slipped on the marbles and yelled as they fell back down the ramp. But the fun didn’t stop there - at the bottom of the ramp there is an empty potato sack that Kirby and Trent left there, filled with bags of itching powder. As the preps bounced and rolled down the ramp, they landed on the sack and it puffed with a huge white cloud of airborne itching powder, resulting in their shrieks and yells being heard from the other side of the town.

Kirby cried as he left the beachhouse, barely able to stand upright from laughing so hard. His right wrist started hurting but he didn’t care - as long as he got to see some prep-losers looking like clowns and Trent laughing uncontrollably.

“You asshats!” Gord declared, pointing at them while scratching his lower back, “you’ll rue the day you messed with us! We’ll get you for this!”

“Catch us first!” Kirby wheezed as loud as he could and grabbed Trent’s arm, urging them both to start running. Sure enough, they heard running behind them on the creaky boardwalk and they ran to the end of the pier before glancing down at the water. Their plan was great so far, but unfortunately they forgot about this little dead-end.

“Oh shit!” Trent breathed, “I don’t want to get wet!”

“Come on!” Kirby yelled and leapt off the pier first, splashing into the water.

But shit, he didn’t realise how ice-cold the sea actually was and he almost swallowed some water. He started to swim to the surface, but he forgot about his right wrist and grit his teeth in pain and thrashed. He only had a couple of swimming lessons, he didn’t realise how difficult the currents are in Bullworth Bay.

His eyes squeezed shut, waiting for death and it’s sweet release, but then strong arms wrapped around him and pulled him to the surface where he gasped for air and was almost blinded by the sunlight. Coldness wracked his body as he shivered violently, but the warmth of Trent’s arms never left him.

“What were you thinking?!” he heard him spat, “your wrist is sprained! You can’t just go in the water like this!”

“It’s not like I planned to go swimming in the first place!” Kirby’s voice wavered.

Above them, the preps yelled things before pulling eggs out of their pockets - which were miraculously not broken by their fall earlier. Trent saw and began to kick the water to drag themselves away, still holding Kirby.

“Come on, let’s get back to the dorm and skip class!” Trent declared, pulling his year-mate along.

Trent felt his feet touch the sand, and they finally stood up properly on the shore. The preps nearby were already gaining on them by feet, and it was then that they decided to…

“Kirby, take my bike!” Trent urgently commanded and pressed his lock key into his left hand. Kirby stared at him. “I’ll deal with those losers…” he murmured and cracked his knuckles as he glanced back.

“Woah, wait! You can’t! There’s too many of them! I’ll fight too--!” but the throbbing in his wrist made him painfully aware of his handicap. “You dumbass, I can’t even ride a bike one-handed!”

“Just take it on the bus!” the blonde snapped and shoved his shoulder, prompting him. “Go, now!” And with that he turned and suddenly landed a punch on an incoming Bif, immediately knocking him to the ground. Passer-bys screamed and the sirens of distant police cars wailed. It surprised Kirby how fast news spread of a fight, but he was already running away back to the pier, to the bench, to Trent’s bike still chained to the same bench where they schemed and plotted against the bourgeoisie…

But he can’t do it. He can’t bring himself to run away. If this was anyone apart from his team and Trent, he would run. He’d never leave them. Right now, Trent needs help. He can’t take on 3 preps, especially when it’s common knowledge that they have boxing lessons. Call it loyalty, but Kirby would never forgive himself if he left Trent to fight on his own, despite him having a decent knock-out record when it comes to fighting bullies.

He flew like the wind back to the beach, just in time to see the preps kicking Trent while he’s on the ground with a bleeding nose and black eye. Kirby screamed angrily and jumped in the air, drawing his arm back before pummeling Chad’s cheek with one punch. Bif and Tad yelled and jumped on him, but the brunette flailed, managing to kick Bif in the nuts.

“Now you can’t breed with your sister, you sick fuck!” he spat and scratched Tad’s cheek as he tried to grab his left arm, and let go with a cry.

“My face!”

As valiantly as he tried, he is still outnumbered. Chad recovered from his shocker and seized Kirby’s hair and yanked him to the sand where Tad kicked his side. He gasped and curled up quickly before receiving a blow to the head and his vision went spotty.

“Kirby…!” a weak voice from outside his visual range cried. “Run!”

Trent’s pleading sparked a fire. Kirby yelled and forced himself upright. Going against medical advice he clenched his right fist and rolled on the sand before standing up again to face the 3 angry preppers standing between him and a bruised Trent.

“Never!” Kirby hissed, getting into a fighting stance, “come on and get your poundcake, sick bastards! Nobody picks on Trent and gets away with it!”

Nearby at the top of the concrete steps, Gary Smith watched on in interest as the fight went on. Kirby is definitely losing, and the preps were not playing fair at all, but he did admire his determination to at least try to knock out a damn rich kid. Then the excitement stopped when a policeman ran past him yelling and waving his arm.

“Stop in the name of the law!”

That alerted the preps. As they quickly thought of getting their parents to bribe the officers into leaving them alone, Kirby landed a powerful punch on Bif’s nose and a cracking noise echoed.

An officer seized the nearest person, who happened to be Tad, and more cop cars wailed and screeched to a halt at the main road. Trent weakly got up and slumped onto Kirby’s back, who in return held his arm and leaned against his shoulder. Without saying anything, they snuck away to hobble along until they’re under the bridge while the police fought with the foolish preps who were screaming things like “Let us go, you plebeians!” and “My father will hear about this!” and “Mummy! Help!” It was practically a miracle that the police didn’t notice the jock and his partner sneak away, but then again the police are obsessed with getting into hands-on work.

…

They remained under the pier for a while, listening to a drunk hobo mumble to himself by the water and the ocean’s roar above the traffic of Bullworth Vale. They also held each other as they sat down in silence, feeling their bruises and injuries thrum in their complaining veins.

“Why did you come back for me?” Trent whispered, not looking at Kirby, staring out at the water. Classes will have definitely started by now, and it’d be too late to sneak in through the windows or past the ever-present prefects.

“I had ta, y’know?” Kirby croaked. His throat was sore. “Three against one ain’t fair…”

“I was already out of the fight by the time you came back,” the blonde sighed and touched his eye, wincing at the pain. Kirby let out a breath and looked at him.

“You still had some fight in ya,” the brunette nudged his ribs, only to regret what he did because Trent gasped sharply and pressed his hand against his chest. “Shit, sorry, bruh.”

“It’s good,” he panted and moved a little to get comfortable, “but you’re worse off…” Trent reached over to touch Kirby’s face where a cut opened on his cheek - one of the damn preps wore a spiked ring; what a dirty tactic. But his warm hand stayed there and the two looked at each other’s eyes until Trent raised his other hand to hold Kirby’s face properly.

“You got a bruised eye, Trent,” Kirby stated obviously, uncertain of their position, hidden from the world, sitting so close that they could feel each other’s breaths.

“Your lip is busted too,” Trent murmured and his hand stroked his hair, moving down to the back of his neck. Without thinking, he leaned forward and shut his remaining good eye before pressing a kiss to Kirby’s shocked lips, smearing blood onto his by accident. The brunette’s eyes widened and he pushed his friend away, receiving a hurt look in return. But his heart missed beats.

“About damn time!” the drunk hobo a few feet away complained, making them jump, before stumbling away.

Trent gulped and tried to stand up, but shook a little. Kirby, flustered, helped him up but then quickly let go of him like he was made of acid.

“Look, uh… I know girls,” he started and scratched his head, “girls are great, and… y-y’know, cheerleaders like me too…”

“Yeah…” Trent mumbled, “girls. Nice girls. I prefer girls.”

Both their efforts to repel each other worked, but it was like punching their own hearts and calling it CPR.

“Listen…” Trent sighed, “we should just… get back to school and not talk about this, okay?”

“Why?” Kirby spoke before he could stop himself.

“You know why!” his friend snapped but immediately regretted it, “you’re in the football team and we’re both guys.”

“B-big deal!” Kirby snapped, “what if we DON’T tell people, and date each other?”

“What?”

“You heard me!” Kirby argued, “we can just date in secret or something!”

The wind whistled and Trent’s cheeks reddened.

“You… you really want to date me?”

“YES!” the jock screamed, eyes wetting, “shit, fuck, fuck, FUCK!” he ranted and kicked the sand over and over again. “Don’t tell ANYONE about us, okay?!” And without warning he just stormed off and disappeared out of sight, not noticing that he walked past a smiling Gary at the top of the steps as he made his way to the bus stop.

…

Days passed, and Trent and Kirby seldom hung out together. Soon, Halloween was upon everyone and the end of school classes were met with enthusiasm and students dashing to get into their clothes at the dorms. Most students, excluding a handful who just want to sit in and watch tv, including Kirby as he lounged in the common room playing poker with Juri and Ted. He slammed his cards down with a groan as the older boys laughed and scooped their winnings.

“Are you guys cheating?!” Kirby accused angrily as they chuckled.

“Call it experience and intuition,” Ted boasted, “what else will you bet? Your pride?”

“Shut up!” Kirby snapped and snatched five dollars out his pocket and slammed it down, “this is all that I’m betting, got it?!”

“Well, well! Isn’t gambling illegal?” Gary Smith asked as he approached the table, raising his eyebrow at the note. The boys gave him wary glances.

“It’s none of your business, pal!” Kirby growled as his right wrist throbbed at the memory of the last time they fought. It has healed, but it lost him valuable practice time in gym class. “Don’t you have any jews to harass?”

“I’m hurt!” Gary gasped and put his hand over his heart beneath a nazi general uniform, “it’s just a costume, good man, I’m not going to drop a lot of stink bombs in the gym lockers!”

“What?”

“What?” Gary blinked before turning and noticed Peter enter the room wearing a ridiculous full-on bunny onesie. Everyone in the room snickered and laughed while the boy blushed, red cheeks clashing with the outfit.

“I’m wearing it, now let’s go out!” Peter complained.

“Not yet!” Gary said briskly as he started to leave, “we gotta bother Jimmy into joining us!”

“What the actual fuck man?” Ted grumbled and reached over to touch the fiver that Kirby used as a bet, but the smaller brunette withdrew it tiredly.

“Sorry guys, I’m gonna call in for an early night,” he murmured, feeling exhausted from just talking to people today. His team mates groaned.

“Come on, Kirb! We got no practice tomorrow,” Juri pleaded, but their wingman was already standing up with a yawn.

“Sorry guys, I might’ve eaten Edna’s fruit of the day,” he sighed and the other boys shut up in understanding before he left to retire to his room, where he jumped at the sight of Trent lying back on his bed reading manga.

“Trent!” he gasped and quickly slammed the door shut, dipping the room in darkness with only the lampshade switched on. “What are you doing here?!”

“Me?” the blonde blinked, “reading manga of course. Have you read Sailor Moon yet? You’d be perfect as Sailor Mercury.”

“O-of course I would!” Kirby stammered, despite not reading manga. “Aren’t you going to egg the prefects or something tonight with your gang?”

“Nah,” Trent sighed, “we do that all the time anyway. And I don’t want to wear cosplay because the nerds won’t leave me alone if I went as Sailor Moon.”

“O-okay… So what are you doing here? Seriously?”

Trent sat up, closing his manga without using a bookmark and looked at him.

“I want to kiss you.”

“What?!” Kirby stared, “heck no! What if someone comes in?!”

“It’s exactly why I came here. You don’t let anyone in here for some reason,” Trent explained lowly, standing up and approaching him with an odd look. “So the chance of someone bursting in is quite low, don’tcha think?”

“N-n-n-now wait a second!” Kirby’s voice rose but Trent covered his mouth with his hand, drowning his noise. He carried on speaking in a more hushed tone after shoving his hand away. “It’s not that I don’t want to kiss you or anything, but why now?”

“Why not,” Trent shrugged and ran his hand through his own hair, “we haven’t spoken in ages.”

Shame ran through Kirby’s veins. Neglecting his best friend is an offence in itself.

“I’m sorry I avoided you, but I don’t know what we should be,” he explained weakly, despite knowing why. The vials of testosterone hidden under his bed surely must be gleaming in amusement at his predicament. “I got secrets too.”

“So do I!” Trent burst out, “but it’s no secret that I like you, Kirby. I never felt like this with normal friends, so it must definitely be love!” With that, he moved in and despite the brunette backing up against the door to avoid his hold, he still placed his hands on the door behind his head and snatched a kiss from him. Kirby’s lips moved to protest, but Trent took the moment to deepen the kiss and dropped his hands to hold him around his waist while the reluctant guy beneath him tried to mirror his movements. Despite the clumsy kisses, warmth spread through their bodies as they grew used to each other’s shapes and Kirby practically melted with a moan. It’s only at this moment that he’s glad that Trent already had experience in kissing and that he was the one to steal his first.

When Kirby felt Trent’s hands wander down to his waist to squeeze his butt, he gasped into their kiss and abruptly broke apart from him. Confusion filled Trent’s face while the brunette gave him an apologetic look.

“S-sorry, I haven’t done this kinda thing before…” he mumbled, running his hand through his own messy hair. He sighed in relief internally when Trent nodded in understanding, looking unusually flustered. Kirby watched how he averted his gaze - he doesn’t look upset, but aroused. “H-hey, let’s go egg some nerds from the tree!” he babbled before yanking the door open and dashed outside, forgetting to pick up the eggs from his desk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's actually canon that Trent likes manga according to his wikia page, and that he's in the drama club, so it would totally be possible for him to cosplay at least once.


	3. A Fun Day

They sat up in the tree overlooking the circle between the two dorms, observing halloween in all its glory within the discount-store decorations lingering over trees, walls and on a few kids. They saw the new kid Jimmy Hopkins walking about in his skeleton costume along with Gary Smith and Peter Kowalski outside the dorm. Kirby practically hissed like a cat at the sight of them.

“I’ll get revenge on those dorks someday,” he snarled, adjusting his werewolf ears. He didn’t have time to buy a full outfit, but ‘found’ them while picking Tad’s locker after accusing him of stealing one of his swimsuit mags. Trent chuckled beside him, holding a catapult ready.

“Let me. They can’t see us up here.” With a tug, he pulled the elastic back, aiming at the bickering trio. “Who first?” Kirby pondered.

“Jenkins! ...Hopkins, whatever it is!”

“Your wish is my command,” Trent grinned and moved to aim at the skeleton-clad guy. “Ready, steady…!”

“FIRE!” Kirby burst excitedly and made him squeal like a girl, letting go of the shot and it struck Pinky’s head by accident instead and knocked her princess crown off. She screamed and spun, slapping Gord before running away with a fitful cry, watched on by the confused original targets. Trent glared at his partner-in-crime.

“I had the shot!” he scolded him, “dammit, I had it!”

Kirby huffed defensively.

“It’s not my fault! You had a better shot up here than down there!”

“I’ll give you faults!” Trent snapped and lightly shoved him, but they almost fell out the tree and quickly clung to each other for support.

A snapping noise alerted them and they looked down with wide eyes, seeing Gary Smith holding a camera with a shit-eating grin.

“HEY EVERYBODY! TRENT AND KIRBY ARE KISSING IN THE TREE!” he declared loudly and fellow students nearby giggled and pointed.

“HEY!” Kirby yelled and started to clamber down the tree followed by Trent. But Gary was already long gone by the time they reached the ground. Why aren’t there any damn prefects about? Oh yeah, probably getting wankered in the prefect dorms.

Halloween was supposed to be fun, but to Kirby it was already ruined. His ears burned red when he and Trent walked past a couple of kids who stopped and started singing:

“Trent and Kirby, sitting in the tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g--!”

Trent spun with his catapult aimed at them and they screamed, breaking out into a run. At least the prefects aren’t around to smack them one for terrorising kids. Trent shot Kirby a grin, but the brunette gloomily walked on in no particular directions. He was going towards the autoshop until his friend seized his shoulder to stop him and made him realise he was encroaching on the greaser’s territory.

“Thanks,” Kirby breathed. “Sorry, man. I’m out of it today.”

“Don’t be,” Trent whispered until his eyes brightened. “Hey, let’s go into town.”

Kirby’s eyes shot wide as he looked at him. “What? Really? But the gates are closed…”

After a few ‘incidents’ involving Bullworth students during Halloween in the town for the past few years, Dr Crabblesnitch agreed with the townies that they are to keep the students locked in during Halloween to avoid trouble. The school’s reputation is already bad, but this is the only instance where the headmaster (reluctantly) agreed on something with the townies.

“There’s a loose fence panel behind the broken-down school bus,” Trent murmured lowly, checking his surroundings for listening ears. “I once went back there to make out with Christy, and I discovered that if you follow along the brick wall you’ll reach the bridge and you can just climb over the wall to the main road.” Kirby stared at him in awe and grinned brightly.

“Sweet! Let’s go!” They high-fived.

…

Sure enough, they snuck through the door of the school bus (whose wheels got taken by the Greasers years ago for experiments) and to Kirby’s right as he walked out the other side Trent was fiddling about with a part of the fence that looked like somebody tried to board it up. He tugged at the fresh wood with a grunt.

“Dammit, a prefect must’ve seen the hole and boarded it… nevermind!” Trent stood up and cracked his knuckles. “We’ll do this the old way!” He declared before kicking the board and it snapped in half with a loud crack that shocked the air. They glanced through the windowless bus but only saw a couple of confused preps shrugging before walking on across the car park to make out by the wall. Trent nudged the broken halves of the shoddy repair job and bowed to Kirby, gesturing at the new exit. “After you!”

“Thanks!” Kirby chuckled, dropping to his knees and crawled through the space until his hands and knees touched soft dirt beside the looming concrete wall. He stood up, hearing Trent follow him and offered him a hand, helping him to his feet.

“Now what?” Kirby questioned just as they started to walk down the uneven narrow path between the wall and the heavy foliage. “We’ll be in town anytime soon, but--”

“I’ll treat you on a date,” Trent suddenly blurted. Kirby froze, laughed hollowly, trying not to sound nervous.

“N-nice joke, Trent, but I ain’t gay.”

“I mean it,” he heard him speak more gently. “I want to take you to the Carnival tonight.”

“Wait…” Kirby frowned and spun on his heel to stare at the blonde, who looked at him with a mix of solemnity and hope. “Is this why you suggested we sneak out? Because to be honest, I’d rather go to practice with the other guys than just hang out at some lame carnival.”

“I’ll pay for all the rides we go on,” Trent pleaded, “we can pool our tickets together and get one of those cool scooters!”

“No way!” Kirby shook his head, “I don’t even like the carnival! There’s too many freaks hanging out there!”

“Please?” Trent reached over and held his shoulders to his shock, “everybody will be locked up in the school grounds apart from us, so there’ll be barely any people to bother us!”

“Trent?” the brunette stared at him and the near-desperation in his eyes. No, they were full of wanting. “What’s going on? You okay, man?” A groan left Trent’s throat.

“Kirby, I really like you. I want to go out with you.”

“Wh-what?! Heck no!” Kirby exclaimed and shoved his hands away, heart racing. Hurt showed on his friend’s face. “I only like you as a friend; please don’t ruin what we have!” he begged, “you’re the only guy outside my team that I trust! I can only see us as friends!”

“Can you give me a chance, Kirb?” Trent pleaded, “just tonight, I promise. If you don’t feel anything for me by 1am tonight, I’ll drop it!”

Kirby inhaled, thoughts racing. Looking at the blonde’s face in the dim light barely spilling over the brick wall from the long driveway, he could see how set Trent is on delivering his promise. Time to test his resolve.

“Fine,” he sighed heavily and ran his hands through his own hair before glaring at the taller male. “But I’m setting some ground rules and you ain’t breaking them! One! No copping a feel!” Trent stared and was about to protest, but a pointed look made him hold his tongue and nod in agreement. “Two: no kissing!” Trent’s look couldn’t get any more agonised but listened. “And finally: we do NOT speak of tonight with ANYONE! What happens at the carnival stays at the carnival! Got it?”

“Alright,” Trent groaned and held his hand out, “but can we compromise and hold hands?”

“If I accept, will you accept the deal?”

“I do.”

“Then it’s a deal,” the brunette said and they firmly shook hands. Though Kirby was ready to let go, Trent still held on with his warm hand. The heat rushed to Kirby’s face as he turned around, still holding his hand, mumbling: “...L-let’s go…”

“You’re so cute, oh my gosh!” Trent giggled behind him. Kirby seethed, but kept holding his hand even when they made it to the bridge until they had to let go to climb over the fence.

Cars zoomed past and people chattered on while some adults wore costumes and very few actually noticed two Bullworth Academy escapees walking past hand-in-hand, but aside from all that life carried on as normal. Pumpkins decorated the boardwalks while couples held hands and kissed. Without Bullworth Academy students being around to prank people, the seaside town got more peaceful. Trent and Kirby felt invisible, but Kirby felt as if the eyes of the world are cast on his sweating hands holding the blonde’s tightly.

“You feeling okay, Kirb?” Trent asked lowly and his friend nodded quickly as they entered the tunnel leading to the carnival.

“Of course I am!” Kirby gabbed, “I’m always being watched from being in the team, so this shouldn’t be anything different!” He was taken aback by Trent’s soft smile.

“You’re nervous, aren’t you?”

“Why would I be?!” Kirby yelped, face burning brighter. His yelp echoed in the long tunnel and got them some strange looks from passing couples. “Why would I be?” he repeated more quietly, wanting to die on the spot. Trent squeezed his hand.

“First date?”

“With a guy, yeah…”

“Are you usually nervous with girls?” the blonde asked curiously.

“Not really…” Kirby muttered, “I know a lot about chicks. They like pretty things, talkin’ about their pets, and I like how their eyes light up when they talk about the things they love.”

“Same,” Trent agreed, giving his hand a squeeze, “and they’re all so photogenic too, no matter how beautiful or ugly they are. Cameras love chicks.”

“Is that why you got into photography?” Kirby asked, “‘cause I can get you joining the drama club, but photography?”

“Yeah!” the blonde said enthusiastically, “if you like, I can get Miss Phillips to let us borrow the art room and let me take a photo of you.” He loved how Kirby’s nose wrinkled in disgust at that statement.

“Yeah, how about no? I ain’t exactly Michelangelo.”

Trent wanted to stop them walking just so that he could tell the brunette that he is wrong. He may not be a 6 foot tall player, but he is a star and the pride of the Bullworth Bulls. He may not be the sun in the system of the players but he is the moon, the unassuming celestial being who is the least likely to be suspected of kicking your ass.

“You could come in your full football gear, and I can take a shot of you looking epic so I can get a nerd to develop promotional posters,” Trent suggested lightly, trying not to grin. “Tad might like that idea, Bullworth could do with some more football players.”

Kirby paused before nodding with a hum. “Yeah… that’s actually a pretty good idea!”

“I know,” Trent grinned as they reached the ticket stand. “Two kid tickets please.”

The ticket-seller raised an eyebrow, wondering how Bullworth kids got out the academy on Halloween night, but accepted two dollars off Trent and handed him two tickets. “Carnival closes at midnight tonight, so scram before the cops find you.”

“Thanks, hag,” Trent said politely, rushing past the past with Kirby before the angry lady could get them thrown out. He cursed as he trod on the uncut grass. “Midnight? Shit, they must’ve cut the closing times.”

“We still got a few hours,” Kirby shrugged, “let’s go on the roller coaster!” He loved how quick Trent’s face paled and a smirk pulled at his lips. “What, you scared?”

“N-no! I’m just vertically challenged!” the blonde sniffed indignantly, but didn’t protest when the brunette grabbed his hand and dragged him to the entrance of the roller coaster with the biggest grin.

…

The second Trent dashed out the ride’s exit, he practically dove into a nearby trash bin to throw up. Passing people squealed and groaned at the disgusting noises, but Kirby pissed himself laughing.

“Very funny!” Trent grouched, rummaging through his pockets to find tissues, “for that, it’s my turn next to pick the next ride!”

“Aw come on, admit that it was hilarious!” Kirby sniggered, automatically looping an arm around Trent’s.

“Count your stars that you made me swear not to kiss you tonight otherwise I’d give you a full makeout session without using up a whole bottle of mouthwash!” Trent complained. Kirby almost barfed at that, but leaned against him to push him in the direction of the shooting range.

“Come on! Let’s try that game out!”

“I’m sure the game is rigged anyway,” Trent rolled his eyes, but didn’t complain when he paid the stall attendant, who eagerly took the money and handed him an air rifle. He passed it to the brunette instead. “You first, Kirb, I paid enough to give us 1 round each.”

“Sweet!” Kirby grinned and aimed, firing once straight away but missed a target completely. He cursed and reloaded.

“2 more shots,” the attendant stated while counting his money without glancing their way. Trent pursed his lips and stepped close to his friend.

“Here, you’re holding it wrong, let me help.”

“I don’t need help!” Kirby complained, but didn’t protest when Trent’s body brushed against him and his hands rested on top of his. His cheeks flared at their contact, worsening when he felt his breath against his hair.

“You need to tense your shoulders otherwise the recoil will make the shot go off by even a few inches. You need to take one deep breath and forget about your surroundings. Look at how fast the targets are moving and then fire just as they’re about to enter your range.”

Kirby’s breath shuddered, focusing only on the feel of their bodies together, instantly bringing him to the memory of them making out in his dorm hours earlier.

He fired, but missed by a millimeter. Trent tutted.

“Good, but you got one shot left.”

Managing to focus, he accepted the feel and warmth of Trent against him as a part of him and relaxed. Kirby took the shot, but missed again. He broke from the contact with a grunt and practically slammed the gun down.

“How did I miss that?”

“It takes luck,” the stall attendant lazily spoke up, taking the rifle to reload it.

“Or a rigged system,” Kirby spat and they looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“So what? Who cares?” they snickered, “how else are we going to make a living and get food on the table?”

Kirby snarled and set upon him, but Trent stopped him.

“Hey, it’s my turn now,” he reminded him and took the rifle from the stallowner, readying his aim at the moving targets. Kirby silently seethed with his arms crossed, desperately hoping for a win.

But two shots later, Trent growled and practically tossed the rifle down in defeat. The snarky stall attendant snickered.

“Givin’ up already? You got one more shot.”

“Oh I’m not giving up yet,” Trent said with a small smile, hand diving into his pocket and pulling out a firecracker.

Kirby is the only person who could see what’s about to happen as his eyes widened. Trent turned his head to whisper “Get ready to run.” before suddenly lighting the firecracker and held it up. The stall owner screamed like a girl as the blonde threw the explosive and exploded, destroying all the targets in the booth and sent some tickets and cheap decorations flying. People walking by cried out and began to run away as sirens suddenly blared in the distance. Stunned, Kirby willed himself to burst into a run - anywhere - but Trent seized his hand and he went along with it. Before he knew it, they’re in the funhouse hiding in a cleaning cupboard just on the inside of the entrance, bodies squashed together and breathing heavily as they listened to frantic heavy footsteps of police officers.

“Fucking hell!” Kirby whispered, “Trent, what the actual fuck? You attacked an adult!”

“He was ripping us off!” Trent argued softly, “there was no way that those targets could be knocked down with that cheap-ass rifle!”

“Yes, well, now the police will be on our asses because we’re the only Bullworth kids outside at this time!” Kirby hissed.

“We’ll give it an hour, they’ll assume that we snuck out the carnival,” Trent quickly murmured.

“What are we going to do for an hour in here?” the brunette grumbled. He saw a gleam in Trent’s eyes but he glared at him and the blonde sighed. “Don’t forget you threw up, and our bargain is that you’re not to kiss me under any circumstances!”

“Who’s there?!” a new voice yelled outside the door and they simultaneously held each other’s mouths shut, eyes wide in fear. They listened to more voices outside, and a gawky voice explained that the cleaning cupboard is barely large enough for two kids. It might be a minimum-wage cleaner talking. Seconds later, the footsteps left and the two sighed in relief.

Minutes of silence later, Trent rummaged in his pockets and produced a small kaychain torch, lighting it up properly to illuminate their faces in the dark cupboard. His goofy smile almost made Kirby snort.

“Do you always carry that?”

“Only if I knew I’m going to be trapped with cute guys and gals,” he winked, “and also if it happened to be right after I won some tickets…~” He grinned at Kirby’s shocked look as he tugged out a fistful of carnival prize tickets from his pockets like confetti.

“No fucking way,” he mouthed and Trent nodded. “Let’s count them!”

They kneeled down as carefully as possible because it is a tight squeeze, but they both couldn’t properly settle down. So with hesitant movements, Trent sat down with Kirby sitting on his lap. The torch’s clearly showed Kirby’s embarrassment but he started counting some tickets straight away to distract himself. The smells of cleaning chemicals bothered them only slightly as they focused on mumbling numbers to themselves.

“I counted 34 in my side, what about you?” Kirby asked.

“96!” Trent whispered victoriously. “So we got 130 tickets altogether!”

“Sweet!” Kirby grinned, “let’s go to the prize tent!” As he said that, they moved at the same time and their hips touched. He gasped and Trent moaned, both dropping some tickets as Kirby quickly stepped back against the wall of mops with flushed cheeks and heart racing. This is starting to get dangerous. He took one look at Trent’s gaze on him and he knew that something is about to happen--

Click.

The door opened and a spotty nerd stood there, peering at the two through his glasses. It’s Fatty.

“What the fuck are you doing here?!” Kirby raged and stepped out the closet. The nerd almost squealed.

“I-I-I lost some character sheet pages and someone said that Trent might’ve gone to the carnival! ...Oh hi, Trent,” Fatty waved at him nervously. “Can I get my character sheets back please?”

Trent, furious at a possible love moment being interrupted, glared at him and cracked his fists. The nerd got the picture and hobbled off quickly. Sighing, Kirby dropped to his knees and started picking up the dropped tickets.

“Come on, let’s get to the prize tent…” he mumbled before standing up. Trent joined his side, giving him a weak victorious smile as he flashed some tickets, but their moment got ruined.

...

“Why was Fatty outside the school anyway?” Trent wondered as they left through the entrance, both keeping an eye out for the shooting range stall owner as their feet trod on poorly-maintained grass patches.

“Who cares,” Kirby shrugged and they soon made it to the prize tent, where his eyes fell upon a scooter and he inhaled the longest gasp ever, silently pointing at it and Trent gasped dramatically.

“Oh my god!” he whispered and hurried to the shop owner who looked rather amused by their reactions. “How much is that scooter again?!”

“Only 70 tickets!” he said proudly, “she’s the only one left until next week, so be quick and get the last one before the police discover she’s… illegally acquired!”

Trent looked at their tickets and cursed. “Kirb, we only got 130.” His heart lurched at how Kirby longingly looked at the scooter.

“We… It’s yours,” he sighed defeatedly, “you got those tickets yourself.” Trent stared at him like he kicked a puppy.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” he snapped and slammed 70 tickets down before looking at his date, “Kirby, we’ll share the scooter! There’s two seats on it!”

“What? Really?” the brunette gaped, examining the blue beauty. Trent grinned brightly.

“We can go on rides all around Bullworth and not worry about walking all the time!” he said excitedly, “think of all the pranks we can pull and have this as a getaway vehicle!”

Kirby thought it over, looking at the lovely sheen and leather seats, imagining them both riding it together. It looks a smoother ride than the bike. He nodded slowly before doing so enthusiastically with a grin. “Let’s do it!”

Trent cheered and pushed 70 tickets towards the seller. “It’s a deal! We’ll take it!”

“Sold!” the shop owner gleefully bleated and handed them the key. “I’d advise winning a crash helmet from the go-kart tracks first otherwise the police will bust you, but if anyone asks, you didn’t get the scooter from here.”

“Just one key?” Kirby sighed, but somehow knew that Trent will get a copy for him. He just knows it. He watched as Trent filled out a form and handed it to the seller. “What’s that, Trent?”

“A delivery note,” he answered, “we can’t drag it back to the academy at this time, so I asked him to get it sent to the bike shop garage tomorrow.” That’s true. It’s after curfew as well now.

“Sweet,” Kirby sighed, “so what else should we get?” The blonde yawned.

“Dunno about you, but I think I want to hit the hay after tonight’s misadventure. Whatchu think?”

The football star nodded and turned to leave with him. As they left, the seller thanked them loudly for their custom.

…

Their journey back to the dorms was unfettered as they saw Fatty get chased by all 4 prefects much to their amusement. As they stopped outside Kirby’s room, they looked at each other’s eyes, unsure of what to say, before Trent leaned down to kiss his cheek, murmuring a “goodnight” against his skin.

“Goodnight…” Kirby mumbled with a blush before quickly running into his room and slamming the door, trying not to grin like a goof.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 29/4/2018: Aaaaaaaa I wanna thank reindeerxtrash for creating the beautiful image and giving me permission to put it in this chapter <3 It was money well spent! You can find the image on it's native flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/139399139@N06/41780880191/in/dateposted-public/


	4. A Tumultuous Day

A week on after the events of Halloween, Kirby got more comfortable hanging out with Trent during break times at school. While Trent had fun riding the scooter around Bullworth for test runs, Kirby was hard at practice with the football team, including one rainy day as the grass got all muddy from the heavy downpour. The brunette hoped that Trent got a crash helmet from the carnival, because it’s dangerous riding in the rain…

“KIRBY!”

Bo’s yelling got his attention and he swiftly leapt to catch the ball, sprinting to the end of the field before diving to score. His team-mates roared and picked him up while the opposite team of the Bullworth Reserve groaned and slugged off to the benches. Mr Burton approached the celebrating team-mates and shouted at them.

“Congratulations, you maggots! That makes a 50-match win success with no losses! But YOU!” he pointed a fat finger at Kirby, “you coulda cost us the game and it’d be all your fault! What were you daydreaming about like a girl for?!” The boy bristled at that comment but swallowed his pride.

“I was thinking about what action to take after receiving the ball, sir!” he barked like a soldier and their teacher cackled.

“Of course! That’s what you all should fucking do anyway! Everyone, thank Olsen for getting you all a 50-lap run around the field! NOW RUN!”

The team groaned and began to sluggishly run along the outside lines of the field, shooting Kirby some glares through the pelting rain. The brunette stuck his tongue out at them.

‘Well screw them anyway! Mr Burton is a fucking prick!’ his thoughts raged. Oh what he’d give to take a hot shower right now…

“Thanks a lot, Kirby!” Dan complained, red hair bouncing as he ran at the same pace as him, “I got a date with Mandy right after the game, but now I’ll be late! You’re gonna pay for this!”

“Oh get over it!” Kirby spat, panting, “you could always ask her to shower with you! The cheerleading practice is still ongoing!” His friend paused.

“Sweet! I forgive you,” Dan smirked, “so let’s race instead of just jogging!” He rose his voice to be heard by the squad, “HEY EVERYONE! RACE TIME! LOSER BUYS PORN MAGAZINES!” Cheers and jeers sounded and suddenly the testosterone of the players surged, giving them an incredible speed boost. Kirby’s mouth hung open as he saw how far he’s being left behind.

…

Kirby barely made it to the last lap, just overtaking Juri and leaving the Russian athlete in last place, so thank goodness he won’t have to sneak into the Come Hither store in Bullworth Town. Besides, even if he did lose, he’d have to bring fake ID, and the nerds are asking for a ridiculous price to have them made nowadays…

Running to the showers, Kirby stripped down and stepped inside a cubicle, breath fluttering as hot water streaked down his exhausted body and worked miracles on his sore muscles. Luckily everyone else has gone back to the dorms. Running his hands through his hair, he doesn’t notice the silhouette lurking outside the shower curtain.

The curtain suddenly yanked back and the brunette yelled, quickly covering himself with the towel.

“Hello!” Trent cheered, “come on, get dry, I’m taking you out for burgers!”

“TRENT! WHAT THE FUCK!” Kirby screamed, “close that now!”

“Come on, we’re both guys!” the blonde rolled his eyes before he thought of an idea. “In fact, let me dry you! It’ll be quicker!”

“No!” the smaller male snapped, still holding the towel to his chest, “I’ll be out in like 10 minutes!”

“God, you’re such a girl, it shouldn’t take that long,” Trent sighed, “I’ll wait outside.” Then closed the curtain, missing a frustrated glare from his friend. He knows he doesn’t know, but it doesn’t hurt any less.

…

Just as Kirby left the changing room with puffy eyes, he witnessed a shocking sight: Trent making out with Jimmy Hopkins against the wall. And moaning.

“Hey!” Kirby yelled and the two broke apart in surprise.

“Oh hey, Kirby,” Jimmy greeted him. But Kirby charged at him only for Trent to step between them.

“Kirby!” he scolded him, “Jimmy ain’t done shit to you!”

“What the fuck is he doing here?!” Kirby screamed, almost hysterical from his feelings earlier, “you’re dead, new kid! Fucking dead!”

“I’m not new anymore!” Jimmy protested, “why are you so agitated? And is Trent your boyfriend or something?”

“NO!” Kirby shrieked and struggled to go pummel him into the concrete, but Trent held him around his waist tightly despite him trying to kick out at the ginger. “HE’S NOT AND HE NEVER WILL BE! YOU DON’T BELONG HERE, JENKINS! NEVER! GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!”

“KIRBY!” Trent roared, still holding on but even though he’s taller, he is outmatched by strength. Kirby elbowed him in the stomach and winded him, letting him go instantly and the brunette angrily stormed up the stairs.

He ran out the gym and stopped outside to take a breather, still tired from the laps earlier when he heard the door swing open and glanced back to see Trent after him. He didn’t look angry.

“Why did you say all that? What do you mean I’m not your boyfriend?”

“You’re not!” Kirby hotly argued, facing him, “we’ve never been more than friends and we shouldn’t!”

“Why? Is it something about me I can change?” Trent asked desperately, “Kirby, I really want to tell you that what happened with me and Jimmy was just a bit of fun and he’s actually a cool guy once you get to know him!”

“How?!” Kirby hissed, angrily, “that loser is not one us! He’s some stupid loner!”

“So am I!” Trent burst, “I’m not a part of any clique except the bullies, but we’re no longer a real clique! Last night, Gary Smith called a fight in the Hole, and it was Jimmy versus Russell!”

“What?” Kirby stared in disbelief. “No way…”

“Yeah!” Trent said quickly, “and Jimmy’s beaten him up! RUSSELL has been defeated by Jimmy! And now Jimmy told us to stop bullying little kids and we can’t disagree with him because we’ve seen what he can do!”

“Fuck that shit!” Kirby ranted and threw his hands up. “He can’t just come in and tell us what to do!”

“He kinda can,” Trent said, “besides, he’s a great guy.”

“He ain’t getting through to me!” the brunette argued, “if I see him, I’ll dish him some poundcake!” Trent laughed and shook his head.

“Kirby… why were you so upset when you saw us making out?”

“It’s just…!” he burst, “you blabbed on and out about going out with me, and kissed me without asking, and then you just go and kiss someone else! You’re a hypocrite!”

“You shouldn’t get upset about it, unless…” Trent said softly and stepped closer to the brunette, seeing his tears, “...you like me.”

“Well yeah I DO like you, but not in THAT way!” Kirby sniffed and quickly wiped his eyes. “I can’t.”

“Why not?” Trent asked gently.

“I-- I just can’t!” the brunette stuttered.

“No! I can’t accept that!” Trent hissed and held his shoulders, pleading; “please tell me why, Kirby! I love you! I want to keep on dating you, even after I become a movie star and you play in the All-Stars! I want to go through everything with you!”

“I got secrets!” Kirby argued, painfully aware of a couple of passing girls watching them eagerly.

“You already said, and so do I!” Trent argued, “please just tell me what’s stopping you from dating me, and I’ll pummel ANYONE who hurts you! Please…”

Kirby saw the sincerity in his eyes, the way he held his shoulders and remembered the way he treated him at the carnival. He opened his mouth, but fear overtook him.

“I can’t. Not now, but… maybe later,” Kirby mumbled. He just knows that gossip is going to circulate from this little meeting.

Trent shot him a look of disbelief.

“When?” Trent breathed.

“When I’m ready! Now leave me alone!” Kirby begged and stormed away, running down to wherever he felt like running to.

Where now? The library? Too many nerds. The girls dorm? He passes as a guy, he can’t. The auto shop? He has no death wish. Harrington House is out of order and the school will have closed by now. And he feels that the boys dorm will be full at this time.

Kirby sighed and hauled himself into a bin, hoping that Trent won’t notice him inside the one by the fountain, and waited until he is sure that the latter is long gone. Prefects passed by as well as stragglers who are late going to their dorms. Judging from the screams of people being chased, Kirby mentally noted that it’s just gone past curfew. Just as he leapt out the bin, he almost jumped upon seeing Gary Smith standing there with his arms crossed.

“Wow, sounded like you had quite the argument with Trent earlier,” he commented. Kirby almost felt his heart leap to his mouth. “What were you talking about?”

“None of your business, pal!” Kirby spat, “don’t you have kids to bully?”

“Relax, pal… because I will make it my business,” Gary chuckled, holding his hands up defensively. Except in one hand he held a familiar glass vial and Kirby’s heart dropped from his mouth to the pit of his stomach. One of his testosterone vials. It might as well be a bright flashlight because in Kirby’s eyes, it’s a forbidden sight outside his dorm room.

“What…” Kirby breathed, eyes wide. Gary rose an eyebrow and made a mock-surprise noise when glanced at the vial.

“Oh! This old thing? Well I’ve been dumpster-diving lately, and I have some information that this…” he stepped close to Kirby, “...is testosterone.”

“It’s not mine,” Kirby lied, even though his heart is hammering away.

“Oh? It’s not?” Gary gasped, “then we have a serious doping program going on with Bullworth! Tsk, tsk, tsk…” He clicked his tongue, pacing around him with footsteps heard above the fountain’s running water. Kirby’s anger rose. “But Kirby, you see, there are rules about drugs and alcohol on the premises of the Academy, and when I made this little discovery, I compelled myself as future Head Boy to gather as much intelligence as I could. I consulted someone about the chemical contents, and I’m told that it can be used to enhance physical performance.”

“Big deal, I usually see Mr Galloway drink booze during English classes, and we know how it affects HIS performance,” Kirby shrugged. The asshole laughed.

“True, true, and adults always get away with causing trouble, but us kids? Well, more like teenagers… we get the full brunt of the law against us for any perceived slight. We get blamed for everything from ruined napkin industries to a deterioration in social standards. So…” Gary lowered his voice as he walked towards the brunette. Kirby did not like how close he was getting, but he wasn’t about to back up and show him that he’s inferior. “...Tell me, Kirby, you’re a short guy, the shortest in the Bullworth team. How does it feel to feel so INFERIOR because you have to literally look up to everyone for your whole school life?”

“I don’t give a fuck anymore,” Kirby snapped, “I’m in varsity! I don’t care if people laugh at me, because I’m in the top team and not with the nerds!”

“Yes, well… people do crack after a while,” Gary smirked, examining the vial. “And when people get worn down from pressure, they tend to… turn desperate.”

“Get to the point already, Smith, you’re wasting my time,” the shorter brunette sighed.

Gary gave him a long knowing stare with a small smile.

“Confirm both or one of these things: are you illegally doping to improve your performance or are you transgender?”

Kirby expected Gary to mention this, but not so soon. The sensation of blood draining from his body left him shivering.

“Go away.”

“What’s that?” Gary simpered, “I didn’t hear you, you need to speak up.”

“GO AW--”

Gary dove. Seizing Kirby’s throat, he slammed the smaller male down against the stone fountain wall and his hand shot up his shirt to touch one of his surgical scars. As if confirming his thoughts, he hand quickly moved to the other nipple, thumbing the similar scar. Kirby’s gasps trapped in his restricted throat as he tried to pry the hands away with a racing mind. As if having his wish granted on Christmas, Gary let go of him with a jovial laugh.

“Well that’s explains it,” he said in pure (fake) surprise, “let me summarise this… You!” He pointed at Kirby, who is crouched on the ground gasping deeply for air while his heart continued to pulse faster and faster. “A star player of the Bullworth Academy varsity team; Kirby Olsen! Entered the school as a boy but is hiding a secret from the rest of the entire world - he was born a girl! And not to mention that he even went as far as to have breast reduction surgery! Oh this is too good!” His cackles shredded Kirby’s nerves. “I’ve never seen anything like this ever since I started my time here!”

“What do you want?” Kirby managed to rasp, not making any move to stand up, feeling utterly defeated as he stared at the dull concrete. To his surprise Gary kneeled down in front of him and held his chin to force him to look at him. He looked solemn, however.

“This can be dangerous. You know what boys are like. If they found out that a girl disguised herself as a boy just to play sports, there’d be a LOT of scandal for not just the team, but for your reputation! Your punishments will be SO MUCH worse than all the hazing you endured.”

His words flashed with danger, but so did Kirby’s eyes.

“Like it or not, I am a fucking boy,” he growled, glaring at him. “I got more testosterone than oestrogen, I got no tits--”

“But no dick, I assume,” Gary said blankly and before the brunette could move he felt a hand on his crotch and he bit back a yell. “Nope!”

Kirby shoved him away and glowered at him threateningly.

“I am a star player for the Bullworth varsity team!” he declared, “and even if you DID tell a teacher, the town or even the fucking President of the United States himself, nobody would believe you!”

“You’re right,” Gary sighed, “but it would be a damaging allegation if rumours are to come out that someone in the sports teams are doping, especially with the tournaments coming up next year.”

“Go ahead!” Kirby ranted, “do that, and I’ll get the entire team to give you poundcake!”

Seeing how hard it’s going to be to waver Kirby, Gary mentally cursed. He didn’t expect a jock to be this bullheaded. But he had a trump card.

“Y’know…” Gary said lightly, “what would Trent do if he found out that he is dating a shemale?”

Kirby hesitated, mind racing, but then he thought of something that surprised him. With all these little declarations of love from the blonde bully, surely Trent meant every one of them? He did pool the carnival tickets together and got them a pretty cool scooter instead of keeping it for himself… The only barrier between Kirby and getting into a relationship is purely his body, so maybe he could just date Trent then tell him later? He IS bisexual, so he should definitely be okay with him no matter what… right?

Instead of responding, Kirby punched Gary clean across the face and knocked him out. As soon as he noticed a prefect by the autoshop coming towards his general direction, Kirby quickly stuffed Gary’s body into the bin and took a photo of him before running off towards the football field for a jog. He could do with clearing his mind.

…

The football field, usually the bowel of chaos and sweat, is as silent as a an ant underneath the inky black sky and it’s minute number of shining stars. Because the nights are cold, Kirby could see his breath coming out in vapours as he ran a few laps around the field. Other students are seen, but none that are jocks as it’s not usually safe for non-jock students to hang out around here. Ah well. As long as he’s not being bothered, then he’s good. It may be past curfew but the prefects hardly bother coming here.

Despite being in the team with strenuous practice, he still need to train his body. He is still developing, so it’s important that he builds his strength too, especially with the effects that the testosterone has on his body. He’d love to not spend so much on deodorant, however, but it can’t be helped. ...Speaking of which, Gary knows about him now. But what can he do? Tell everyone before he does and lessen the blow to his social status? Announce it on the school tannoy? Tell Trent first?

Trent. Kirby’s heart leapt more as he thought about him. He loves the passion in his eyes when he acts in the drama club rehearsals, he likes the focus in his expression as he fixes his camera and he adores how he smiles at him in a way you don’t see for anyone else. After today’s turbulent events, anger and guilt ate his conscience to the point he feels more exhausted than normal bringing his tumultuous thoughts to one conclusion: He has to tell Trent. It’s affecting their friendship. But more than ever, he feels determined to run to Trent, embrace him and apologise.

Without taking a shower in the changing room, he ran all the way back to the boys dorm just before 1am and stopped outside his dorm room, feeling as if somebody is inside and he opened the door slowly. With recent events, he wouldn’t be surprised if people keep breaking in but when he stepped inside his thoughts are confirmed. Trent sat on his bed with an unreadable expression, looking tired like he’s been waiting here for hours.

“Kirby…” he started unsurely, looking straight at him. “Gary told me something about you.”

What? Did he? Did he regain consciousness already while he went jogging?

“And I just want to say something. I know he talks shit, but I want to confirm something...”

Kirby’s breath hitched and his hands balled into fists. He wanted to shut his eyes, but he could only stare ahead. It’s happening. It’s finally happening. Trent’s going to mock him and ruin his school life and never speak to him again.

Arms wrapped around him and he gasped, thinking for a second he was going to kill him.

“I don’t give a shit if you’re a girl or not. You’re Kirby Olsen, the star of varsity and the pride of Bullworth. And I’ll still love you no matter what.” He broke the hug and looked into Kirby’s eyes, feeling his heart leap at those confused brown eyes. “Kirby Olsen, will you go out with me?”

He could only feel shock and disbelief as he looked at Trent’s small smile. Instead, his mouth opened and closed like a starving fish, cheeks flaring up. That smile grew.

Kirby tackle-hugged him, burying his face in his chest and winding him.

“Myhh…” he mumbled. Trent’s heart leapt and he almost teared up. He never felt like this ever since he was starred in a commercial for hair conditioner. He hugged him back, stroking his hair.

“I love you, Kirb,” he breathed, kissing the top of his head. At that, Kirby broke the hug, trying not to tear up and instead seized his shirt to glare at him.

“Trent, do you really mean all that?”

“Of course I do,” he answered, stroking his face. His smile turned to a grin. “Does this mean that I can kiss you whenever?”

Kirby thought about the rest of the school with worry, but as Trent held him close and kissed his cheek, the worries thawed. The brunette stopped the wandering hand on his waist and looked at him.

“If we’re gonna do this, you let me take charge.”

Trent lifted his hand to his lips and kissed it. “We have all night.”

“Actually… no,” Kirby said hesitantly, reading Trent’s wondering expression, “y’see… give me time.” Trent’s eyes rolled.

“Kirby--”

“BUT,” the brunette interrupted him sternly, “it doesn’t mean that I don’t want to date you.”

Trent opened his mouth to argue, only to freeze as the words ran through his mind again and again as he realised the implication of Kirby’s words. A big smile spread across his face and he dove to hug him tightly. “I won’t let you down.”

“You better not,” Kirby warned softly and finally stepped close to hug him again, feeling Trent rock their bodies slowly. Testing the waters, Kirby pointedly rubbed his chest against the blonde’s and heard him moan.

“Kirby…~ Does this mean you’re ready?” he hissed in his ear.

“N-no!” the brunette hissed, suddenly embarrassed and broke the hug much to Trent’s disappointment, only for him to whistle as he watched his new boyfriend strip his shirt off with reddened cheeks and ears. He gasped as he noticed the scars on his chest.

“Who hurt you?” he gasped and hesitantly reached out to him, only stop when Kirby snorted and laughed. Thank goodness the mood is light enough for him to feel more confident.

“No, numbnuts! I’m a guy. I used to be a girl. I hit puberty when I was 11, so I was fucked unless I did something about it.” Seeing Trent’s confusion, he sighed and elaborated. “I went to this shady doctor in New Coventry to get surgery to remove my breasts for a cheap rate so that I’d look more like a guy. This was a year before I joined the Bullworth Bulls.”

“Ooooh,” Trent nodded, finally understanding and reached out slowly. Kirby sucked in a breath and let him touch his sternum, trailing the tip of his fingers to the scar running under his right nipple and feeling the raised skin. “I get it now… Was this why you freaked out at the showers?”

“Yeah…”

“Sorry, Kirb,” he sighed. “It’s been eating you all day, wasn’t it? It’s why you were mad?”

“Yeah…”

“That settles it,” Trent suddenly said firmly and dropped his hand to hold Kirby’s, “I’ll take you on a date to the movies tomorrow!”

“Wh-what?” he gaped.

“I promise we’ll have a good time!” Trent grinned, “I’ll just hold your hand the whole time and get you used to being a boyfriend to a future movie star!”

“The WHOLE time?!”

“Except if you need the bathroom,” the blonde snickered. “We’ll ride there on the scooter, watch The Janitor Massacre, then go to the beach to watch the sunset! How’s that sound?”

Kirby stared at him incredulously. It’s not that the date ideas stunned him, but it’s how EASILY Trent accepted his coming out to him. Maybe things will turn out for the better at last between them.

“Well…? Is that a good idea?” Trent asked, nervous by the silence. Kirby nodded silently, standing on tiptoe to kiss his lips. Surprised, he wrapped his arms around him to reciprocate before they broke the simple kiss for air.

“Alright, let’s do it. I’ll go on a date with you tomorrow.”


	5. A Movie Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As some of you may tell, this story (loosely) follows the main storyline in the game. I spent a good hour researching characters on the Bully Wikia in order to help remind me what goes on in particular missions. (Before proceeding to laugh at memes)

Kirby waited by the auto shop garage for about 10 minutes before he saw Trent running over to him, looking bedraggled as though he only just got out of bed. Kirby snorted, trying not to burst out laughing.

“I’m not an early bird!” Trent exclaimed in embarrassment. “How the hell do you do it?”

“I’m an athlete! I’m always up early every morning!” the brunette snickered, “I’ve been here since 5am.” Trent’s eyes almost popped out of his skull but his date punched his arm lightly. “Joking. I’ve only waited 10 minutes. I just went to the field for a jog then showered and got here.” Trent sighed in relief.

“I’d never keep a lady waiting. But when I’m with guys they always turn up late so I didn’t expect you to be on time.”

“Then by logic, gay dudes always turn up late for dates but turn up at the same time.”

“Lucky we’re bisexual,” Trent teased and the other male shook his head quickly.

“Not bi! Well, you’re an exception, but I like ladies more.”

“Whatever,” the blonde grinned and opened the garage, sunlight pouring in and gleaming across the polished frame of their scooter. “Like it? I got Vance to polish her, but it cost me 10 minutes of my life hearing him blab about how frigging amazing the engine is and how it’s meant to be for actual motorbikes and not low-calibre vehicles like scooters.”

“A motorbike engine?” Kirby said incredulously, peering at the scooter. “When you rode it, was anything off?”

“Nope,” the blonde tutted and sat down, “come on, girls, we’re going shopping.” Kirby cackled at the random comment and sat down behind him, but not before a helmet almost hit his face as Trent moved to pass one to him.

“Safety first,” he said, “I’ve been at the go-kart races in the carnival for the past few days trying to win two helmets but the cheapskate said you could only have one per winner so I was getting enough carnival tickets to buy one off someone.”

‘Aah. That would explain why he skipped some classes,’ Kirby thought with a nod as he clipped the white helmet strap under his chin. “Least the cops won’t chase us around!”

“That would be a REALLY fun date, but no,” Trent grinned as he turned the key, “let’s go!” Straight away the moped started up with an unexpectedly loud roar and Kirby quickly wrapped his arms around his waist as the vehicle jerked into sudden motion and they almost ran over a prefect. The boys bellowed in laughter as they streaked down the school driveway, screaming prefect’s yelling drowned out by the engine.

Despite going faster than a normal bicycle, Kirby looked to his left to gaze at the ocean. The morning sun is just at the right place to bring brighter glimmers to the tolling waters and highlight the normally-absent blue hues usually obscured with dreary greys reflected from the cloudy weather. Trent swerved the scooter and interrupted his thoughts as he drove below the speed limit towards the theatre where he found a parking space behind the building and they got off.

“Sweet ride, huh?” Trent grinned lovingly at his scooter. Kirby raised an eyebrow in amusement before walking off. His date quickly ran to his side and took his hand into his, only for them to separate quickly when the brunette gasped.

“Please?” Trent begged, holding his hand out. If he wasn’t pouting, Kirby would take him more seriously. But he could see around the corner that there’s quite a queue building up and he can hear Pinky from the preppies clique complaining. What would people say if they saw them holding hands? But if he stalls for any longer, the tickets might sell out then Trent really will complain a storm…

“F-fine,” Kirby spat and seized his hand, almost too tightly but Trent smiled brightly and jogged to catch up with his pace as they joined the queue.

Silence reigned between them for a good few minutes. Chatter rattled as the line grew impatient in anticipation of available tickets for a highly-anticipated horror movie. While Kirby’s heart pounded, Trent felt his pulse quicken in his fingers.

“No need to worry, babe, if anyone starts talking shit, I’ll give them shit,” he whispered.

Click!

Shocked, they turned around to see Jimmy standing there holding a camera with a surprised look on his face. Kirby saw the camera, realised what was going on, and his face immediately flooded with colour. His iron clasp on Trent’s hand stuck until he suddenly broke the contact with a shrill laugh.

“I-I just want to plays sports, that’s all!” He suddenly burst into a run.

“Not cool, man!” he heard Trent yell, but didn’t stop until he was standing by the scooter around the back of the building. A few yards away he could see Eunice looking like she saw the rebirth of Christ but paid her no attention as he leaned against the vehicle with a pounding heart. Jimmy fucking Hopkins of all people just took a photo of them holding hands. What’s he going to do with that photo? Blackmail? Make posters of it and paste around the school? Show it to his team?

“Kirby!” Trent panted as he ran to his side, “why’d you run off? I could’ve stayed and pummelled Hopkins!”

“I’m embarrassed, okay?!” Kirby burst, facing him, “I’ve never been on a real date before with guys and I’m worried that I’ll be given shit for it!”

“Why would you?” Trent argued, “why would you care about what other people think?”

“I-I just do, alright?!”

Having had enough of this, Trent lurched and snatched his hand, looking at him sternly.

“We are going to go in there with zero fucks to give and a whole two hours of doing nothing but enjoying the best horror of the year!” And tried to pull Kirby along, but their hands broke apart.

“Hopkins took a photo of us!” Kirby burst.

“I know!” Trent sighed, “and I’ll ask for him to give us a copy, because I really want to keep a momento from our first date for prosperity.”

“But why would you?” Kirby demanded, “I mean, it’s not like we’ll be together forever or something!” Trent paused, looked at his face and thought over his words. The brunette could see his expression shift to a strange look he’s never seen before, but it appears that he’s thinking deeply.

“When you dated Mandy, did you see yourself being married to her?”

Kirby spluttered and looked at him like he grew three heads, saying; “N-no… She’s a bad cook!”

“Have you ever seen yourself sharing a life with someone?” Trent asked quietly and Kirby finally shut his mouth, staring at his date.

“Not… really. You just don’t - we’re only teenagers anyway. A lot of things that happen now won’t happen in the next 20 years…” his voice trailed off.

“My point is…” Trent inhaled, “I kinda see us being together as a couple. Permanently. I really like you, Kirby. But if this is how you treat someone you’re in love with, then you’re doing a pretty crappy job.”

“...WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK?!” Kirby suddenly yelled and startled him. “Trent! I know how much you love me - you already showed that enough as it is, but I’m just not USED to dating someone I haven’t started the relationship with! I’m the one who swaggers in, swoops ladies off their feet then date them until we got bored, but how would YOU feel if someone suddenly confessed to you and swept YOU off YOUR feet without being asked to?!”

“Uh…” Trent could only look at him in pure shock. Kirby grunted.

“Idiot!” he burst, “all I’m asking is that you give me a chance to get used to this! You’re the first guy I’ve ever dated - did you think it was going to be all roses and chocolates and shit? No! I never had the perfect romance and there isn’t such a thing because we all do stupid stuff when we’re in love - like buying a stupid cheap scooter from a stingy carnival run by con artists!” He inhaled, heart racing from the outburst but finally calmed down enough to relax, trying to give him his most sincere look that bordered on insanity and pleading. “So… you get it, right? I do like you, I’m just freaking out. So sorry if I ruined the date.”

In spite of his apology, Kirby could just laugh at the stunned look in his date’s face at his outburst. But at least his chest feels much lighter. He supposes that his past body wanted him to stay silent about his slights but this is now; Kirby Olsen is brash, loud-mouthed, abrasive and unapologetic about his attitude. ‘And if Trent can’t accept me being who I am, then it’s the end of us as dates. Hopefully just that and not crumble our relationship…’

“No, no…” Trent finally breathed and ran his hand through his hair, “it’s true. I’m an actor, I always expect perfection, even when it’s not possible. You’re someone who acts outside the script and just wings it. I can’t ever do that.” He flashed him a smile. “But I guess it’s why I’ve started falling for you.”

“R-right,” Kirby muttered, going red under his gaze. Trust Trent to bounce back so fast. “So… uh…”

“I’m the one who’s sorry,” Trent carried on, “I’ll try not to force you into typical date stuff from now on until you’re obviously comfortable.” Kirby looked at him as he said that, feeling that he can accept every word he’s saying as the gospel truth. God, the guy loves him too much. Maybe this is what love feels like?

“Thank you,” he sighed and inhaled, stepping close to hesitantly hug his date and hiding his face in his chest. “Just don’t expect too much.” Goosebumps prickled his skin as he felt a kiss press into his hair and heat coloured his face. There it is again - a feeling akin to love shaking his veins. What scared him now is how he never felt like this even with Mandy.

“I won’t. Wanna go back inside?”

“Alright,” Kirby nodded and pulled away, but not before allowing Trent to lean in and kiss his cheek. They’ve kissed a few times already, but it never failed to prepare his heart to miss a few beats at his softness. He’s kissed girls before, and their lips are definitely softer than Trent’s, but there’s a slight roughness that sparked Kirby’s attraction in the fellow student.

As they walked back inside the theatre and getting seats for the Janitor Massacre, Kirby’s mind wandered to Trent’s ramblings earlier - about them being a couple for a long time. Call it anxiety, but he can’t help but worry that if things do end between them, it’ll be the end of their friendship. And he’s not sure he can live with that.

During the film, Trent’s hand found Kirby’s. While the brunette froze at the contact, he warmed up to the touch and moved his fingers, intertwining them with his. It distracted him for a good 5 minutes until it felt natural enough for them to focus on the gore on the big screen.

…

“What’cha been doing hanging out with Trent, Kirby?” Dan suddenly asked Kirby as they got dressed in the changing room the next day after gym. The brunette almost dropped his lotion in panic.

“J-j-just hanging out!” he burst and his redhaired friend stared at his over-the-top reaction.

“Chill, just asking,” he huffed and zipped up his bag. “I’m just wondering because he ain’t one of us and you haven’t been at practice yesterday.”

Kirby can’t tell him why: he was at the theatre on a date. With Trent. He’s still trying to process the fact that he’s been on an honest-to-god date with an actual guy that ended with a soft peck on his lips...

“I wasn’t feeling well,” he lied and Dan glared at him.

“That’s what I thought, so I came to check on you but you weren’t in.”

Kirby sighed, feeling his lies crumbling fast. Maybe now would be a good time to explain everything.

“Dan, you’re a friend of mine. And no matter what, we’ll be teammates, right?”

“Of course! You’re the best wide receiver we ever got!” Dan said in shock, “what the heck’s going on, Kirb? You in deep with a drug deal or something?”

Kirby looked about in the changing room, seeing other guys too busy laughing and joking about Mandy’s flighty nature with other jocks. He looked at Dan, deciding to get it over and done with.

“I’m bisexual.”

He just said it straight out. He’s fully dressed and ready to run away at the first sign of trouble--

Dan snorted. “No shit, Sherlock.”

Bricks dropped in his stomach and he blinked. “What?”

“Please! Don’t tell me you’re that oblivious!” Dan rolled his eyes, “I’ve seen how you ogle Trent whenever he comes to Gym class. Believe me, I’ve seen you look at him more than you looked at the cheerleaders, and that says something about dudes in sports.” He revelled in the sight of his friend slowly losing his shit and going through the 5 stages of grief over and over in his expression.

“Are you kidding me?!” Kirby hissed, “I thought nobody knew!”

“Of course we do, and we placed bets too,” Dan snickered before stopping. “Wait a sec.” He turned to the others and whistled sharply, getting their attention. “Hey, Ted! You owe me a ten! Kirb’s confessed!” The other guys laughed and jeered as their disappointed leader handed the redhead a ten dollar note.

“About damn time,” Dan smirked and pocketed the money before pulling his jacket on. “Now because you lied to me, you’re coming to the carnival with me tonight!”

Kirby did a double-take. “Huh? Why?”

“Because I’m in a mood to chase down nerds at the carnival and we haven’t hung out together in ages!” Dan punched his arm, “or are you tied down by the ball-and-chain already?”

“I’m NOT married to Trent!” Kirby blurted and laughs rippled through his team.

“Tell us when the wedding is!” Bo chortled, bringing a fresh wave of snickers. “We’ll give it the full Bullworth treatment!”

Kirby rolled his eyes and swung his bag over his shoulder; “Whatever! Come on, Dan, let’s go beat up nerds!” His friend grinned widely and followed him.

…

“So how long have ya dated Trent for?” Dan suddenly asked casually as they strolled down the tunnel towards the carnival, both carrying baseball bats.

“Uh…” Kirby thought over his date yesterday, “officially… like, yesterday.”

“Nice! What’d you two do? Have sex in Chad’s bedroom?”

Kirby burst out laughing and swung his bat by his side. “You wish! Although if it’s to see the look on his face seeing ‘paupers’ banging on his bed, it’d be worth seeing him pouring gasoline on his bed and burning it.”

Dan snickered and looked ahead, holding a dollar in his hand ready to buy a ticket. The woman in the ticket booth frowned at both of them and their bats, but said nothing as she accepted the bills and handed them tickets.

“We close at 1pm,” she said boredly and they walked past to go through the gates.

“We went to watch the Janitor Massacre,” Kirby answered his earlier question. He felt that he should be getting tired of his teammate’s shit-eating grin, but he couldn’t help but smirk himself.

“Nice! Did you sit at the back row and make out?”

“Not really,” the brunette shrugged, “we just…” He stopped himself from saying ‘held hands’ because of how sappy it sounded. Yeah, his team knows he’s bisexual, but not all of them know that Trent’s his boyfriend - as in Trent Northwick, the theatre kid who hangs out in the parking lot pushing kids around. “We just watched the film. It’s SO awesome! The special effects are shit but the gore is worth the money! You gotta go see it!” he babbled. Their feet crunched against the dry patches of grass that the carnival folk didn’t bother clearing, both glancing about for any familiar green-clad students wandering. Nearby, however, Kirby frowned as he caught sight of Jimmy Hopkins holding hands with Pinky Gauthier of all people.

“Hold the phone,” he muttered and lingered a few feet, observing the new kid as he took to the shooting range that he and Trent went to and expertly shot down all the moving targets. Each ‘ding’ noise irritated him. How is the new kid so good at shooting?!

“That the Hopkins kid?” Dan asked him and he nodded with a scowl and tightened his grip on the bat. Dan saw his grip and nudged his arm with a hiss: “Leave him! He’s with Pinky!”

“Who gives a shit?” Kirby snarled, seeing red as the new bloody kid left arm-in-arm with the rich girl towards the gift shop, holding a wad of tickets.

“Well I do!” Dan argued, “I want to bang Pinky, but not if you give her a concussion!”

“It’s not HER I’m hating on!” Kirby growled, “it’s that stupid new kid! He kissed Trent!”

Dan spluttered and laughed, doubling over. His friend directed his withering glare to him.

“So?” he gasped, barely able to contain himself.

“H-he’s a slut!” he coughed and pointed at Jimmy wildly and Dan laughed harder, practically crumpled over using only his bat to support himself.

“Big deal!” Dan snorted, “I caught him making out with Cornelius last week AND Angie AND Christy! That guy is a real stud with EVERYONE.”

Each name he mentioned dropped more shock into Kirby’s system and his overfrying little brain, dropping his jaw almost an inch every time. The noises and lights of the carnival flashed around them but it felt like time froze for him.

“What. The. Fuck.”

Dan looked up and almost wet himself as he silently pointed at the entrance to the gift shop tent where Pinky and Jimmy stood, the taller girl giving him a peck on the cheek. Dan turned to his friend and wished he had a camera to snap a photo of the look in his face - the look of someone who could no longer comprehend reality and time itself.

“You jealous?” he taunted and Kirby ran off screaming out the carnival without even bothering to once beat up a nerd.

…

“Pinky KISSED Jimmy?” Trent’s eyes were wide when Kirby explained to him about their small trip. “And most importantly - why did you go without me?” They were both lying on Trent’s bed doing homework together on Chemistry. Kirby sighed heavily.

“I haven’t hung out with Dan in ages outside of practice. The big game is coming up soon too, so every break we take will give us that healthy work-life balance,” he explained.

“But I was free! I had plenty of free time!” the blonde complained.

“Skipping class doesn’t count as free time,” Kirby mumbled as he read through the elements in his textbook. Damn him for having the brains to have a high-level paper. Trent’s still on the low-level chemistry end of their education, so he proposed chemistry study sessions with him although he’s more focused on how to get into a makeout session with the cute jock…

“Hey…” he cleared his throat with a small grin, leaning close to his partner’s face and shifting the mattress with his weight. “Wanna play shirts and skins?” He was so close that his hot breath sent Kirby’s skin crawling. He gulped and pushed him away by his shoulder.

“Not until you finish this stupid homework!” he muttered and turned a page in his textbook. “I don’t get why I’m given this high-level shit!”

“Because despite you having brawn, you got some brains,” Trent complimented with a wink. “And I find that sexy.” Kirby rolled his eyes and crossed his legs, scribbling a formula down on his notebook.

“Keep it in your pants,” he comments, reading through a page and growing irritated at the difficulty. “Fuck, this is getting hard.”

“In that case, let’s unwind,” Trent purred, seizing the opportunity and closed Kirby’s textbook before quickly silencing his complaint with a sudden kiss and planted his hands on either side of his hips. The brunette quickly gave up and kissed him back, wrapping his arm around his neck. Thankfully Trent dorms alone, and the door is closed too…

His notebook and pencil tumbled off his lap as Trent pulled him closer, deepening their kiss and ran his hand through his shorter boyfriend’s hair. The motion appeared to have touched a sensitive spot as he revelled in the purring moan pouring over Kirby’s lips against his. Trent could’ve moaned too when he felt Kirby grope at his hips, but refrained by kissing him more. He’d rather hear Kirby, not himself.

“Like that?” the blonde’s breath fluttered against his lips, wishing he could take a picture of Kirby’s blush. But his heart could’ve stopped when those lips stretched into a smirk. An actual goddamn smirk, and after being kissed too. He doesn’t know it, but a floodgate has opened.

“What’d you think?” he snarked and grabbed his shirt collar to pull him close enough to kiss his neck.

“Damn!” Trent gasped and felt him sucking on his skin. “Waitwaitwait don’t mark me!” An irritated huff against his skin and a questioning look made him regret crying out.

“What?”

“I-I might get a commercial deal soon or something!” he stammered, going pink. Kirby never noticed before, but when he blushes his ears and neck turn pink. It’s rather cute...

“Bull,” the brunette snickered, “you could just use makeup or something to hide it.”

“O-oh right…” Trent murmured. Kirby moved to slip off the bed and he panicked. “Wait, I didn’t mean to stop us! We can still--”

“Nah, I’m tired,” he sighed, trying not to grin. Although his hormones wanted him to stay, he thought better. Plus this makes a nice bit of revenge against Trent for distracting them from homework… “Goodnight, Trent.”

“Goodnight,” the blonde groaned and Kirby shut the door, still trying hard not to laugh his head off at his disappointment as he walked past a couple of kids poring over a swimsuit magazine.

He was about to enter his dorm room when Petey stopped him, looking like he ran a marathon.

“Kirby! Have you seen Gary anywhere?” he asked quickly.

“Nah, and I don’t care,” the jock huffed, growing more irritated the longer the non-clique-nobody looked at him. “What? Do you want some poundcake?” he threatened.

“N-no! Goodnight!” Petey gabbled and ran away, leaving him sighing heavily and entered his room, shutting the door behind him. Time to inject.

Although he’s been curious himself about Gary’s whereabouts, he’s only slightly worried about him since he knew his secret. It’s as if he vanished from the face of the Earth. Ever since he knocked him out and stuffed him in a bin, he hasn’t seen hide or hair or him anywhere. They don’t take classes together usually, but it’s strange. For a sociopath who likes torturing people, he’s sure been inactive. Maybe he got a concussion from the hit and died in the bin and got his corpse dragged away by raccoons or wild dogs? That thought only gave Kirby mild comfort, but he did have a slight panic at the idea of actually killing someone.

Great. Now he can’t stop thinking of Gary coming back as a ghost and poking his side while he sleeps.

“Whatever…” he sighed. “As long as I get to take part in the Big Game later this year, things’ll be fine.”

But things won’t be fine. This is Bullworth Academy, after all.

…

That next morning, Kirby woke up at 7am feeling that something is off. He doesn’t know why, but he quickly dressed up and burst out the door just as Ted was about to knock, standing there with eyes full of glee. Too late. Sometime’s up and he’s going to be dragged into it.

“Hey, Kirb, the nerds have taken over the Funhouse in the Carnival. Go run down there and teach them a lesson!”


	6. A War Day

“Cheer up, Kirby!” Bo snickered as they jogged through the town. “We’ll take over the funhouse, beat up nerds, then get some burgers with the other guys!”

“Ah man, I wanted to go to practice!” Kirby complained, “I need to run my daily 5 miles!”

“5 miles are for pussies! If you want to be like me, you gotta run 10 miles!” Bo boasted.

Kirby wanted to retort that running that much probably shrunk his brain, but he’s not ready to get beaten up this early in the morning. They ran down the tunnel to the carnival, paid the admission price and made their way to the funhouse. Kirby may not like the idea of wasting time chasing nerds instead of going to practice, but there’s something about chasing down prey to beat up that excites his sadistic side.

He heard Bo laugh to himself as they entered the strange building saw encountered Bucky and Fatty in the lobby. Both nerds squealed and immediately scrambled away.

“We’re in trouble!” Bucky screamed. “We’ve been betrayed!”

Kirby grinned and cracked his knuckles. Yeah. Now this is what he’s talking about. His blood boiled with the anticipation of an easy fight.

“COME AND GET YOUR POUNDCAKE!” he declared and charged towards them. Bo followed and seized Fatty’s arm in both hands, squeezing his skin hard while Kirby tackled the weak nerd to the ground and held him down.

“Chinese burn time!” he chortled, starting to twist his lower arm and spurring screams from the large boy. Suddenly something hard at his his face and he yelped, letting go of the nerd and spun angrily to see Jimmy Hopkins, looking out of breath with a scowl and holding a slingshot. Kirby also looked and his jaw dropped in disbelief, fist stopping in mid-air..

“Leave those dorks alone!” he demanded, pulling the elastic back on the slingshot. This time, he fired a shot at Kirby which struck his cheek, stunning him long enough for the nerd beneath him to shove him off and run away with Fatty to the corner of the room.

“Fuck you, Hopkins!” the brunette snarled and held his fists up. Memories of seeing him make out with Trent and Pinky fuelled his anger.

He leapt at the new kid, but only noticed that he swapped his slingshot for a firecracker until the last minute - when he threw it at him and it exploded, whiting his vision and the force knocked him back and he fell unconscious.

…

“Kirby!” a voice yelled and the brunette eventually blinked awake, sitting up to glance about in the room full over oversized furniture. Bo leaned over him, looking furious. “Those nerds got away! Come on! Backup’s arrived! Juri, Casey and Dan went ahead!” Kirby took Bo’s large hand and let him haul him to his feet before following him up a ladder on the table that he didn’t notice before. It’s only now that he realised that this funhouse is full of tricks and mentally hoped that his teammates won’t be dumb enough to fall for any of it’s mechanisms…

They emerged from a manhole and into what looked like a scenery from a graveyard. Ahead of them are unconscious bodies of their teammates groaning and writhing while the grim reaper animatronics cackled and swung their scythes repetitively. Bo cried out and kneeled by Juri.

“Juri! What happened?”

“That Hopkins kid controlled these stupid dolls!” the Russian complained, nasty bruise forming on his head. “I’m gonna pound him into dust!”

“I’ll do it!” Kirby yelled and ran past his other comrades, suddenly noticing another employee entrance leading to a different part of the attraction. “Hey guys! We’ll cut a corner and beat them to the exit!”

“Nice plan, Kirb,” Dan moaned from a few feet away, rubbing his head, stumbling to his feet only to fall down again, woozy. “Dammit… You go on ahead, I need to get painkillers…

“Same!” Casey whined.

“Me three,” Juri groaned.

“Fine!” Bo spat, “Kirby, you come with me!”

“Hey guys!”

They glanced back to see Luis appearing from the manhole, looking startled at the scene before him. “What happened?”

“HOPKINS is what happened!” Kirby snapped, pointing at him, “you’re coming with us!”

…

In a different room, the 5 jocks noted how this section was made to look like an underground mine with the miners swinging their metal shovels about. (What kind of health and safety inspector approved this place anyway?)

“Looks like they can be controlled at those panels up there,” Luis pointed out, pointing up at the consoles just out of their sight on a ledge to their right.

“Come on! We’ll take each one!” Kirby urged and practically flew up the ladder. “And if Hopkins comes up to turn them off, we’ll beat him into the ground then bury him alive!”

They noticed that there’s only 3 control panels, but luckily there’s 3 of them. While the miners swung their axes at a slow rate, they yelled instructions to each other on speeding them up so it’d be almost impossible to walk or run past them without getting knocked out.

Then they heard voices. Kirby stood by his post, anticipating a surprise attack when he heard the familiar bang of a firecracker going off and he gulped, but steeled his nerves.

There he is. Jimmy fucking Hopkins heading towards him wielding a firecracker. That cheater!

“Fight me like a man, douchebag!” Kirby taunted and leapt towards him. Jimmy can’t knock him out without hurting himself if he throws the firecracker at such a short distance between them.

Instead, Jimmy rapidly swapped the firecracker for a bag of itching powder, suddenly tossing the open packet at the incoming brunette and he yelled. The goddamn fine grains of itching powder snuck into his clothing and rubbed against his skin. His skin twitched and he yelped, desperately trying to scratch himself and brush the powder off. A whole BAG was thrown onto him!

Without thinking, he stripped his shirt and jersey off to quickly push the grains away only to pause and realise that Jimmy just stood there staring at him instead of fighting him.

“What?” Kirby snapped threateningly, dropping the clothing to the ground and holding his fists out in front of him. “Come and get some, tough guy!”

“I…” Jimmy said hesitantly, “I don’t think I want to hit you.”

Kirby choked on his spit and practically screeched his disbelief. “WHY?! Come and get some poundcake, moron!”

“Uh… it’s…” Jimmy fumbled with his words uselessly until he gestured at his own chest. Frowning, Kirby glanced down at his own torso, seeing nothing unusual aside from the redness that the itching powder left. He might be having an allergic reaction to it.

Wait. The surgical scars beneath his nipples are exposed for everyone to see. Well, him and Jimmy, but…

Kirby’s mouth hung open in cold realisation. Jimmy saw. He fucking knows about him.

“U-u-u--” Kirby babbled, quickly kneeling down and comically tried to pull his clothes back on, only to stumble and slip, banging his head on the rail and knocked himself out.

…

Pain throbbing in his head, Kirby hissed as he woke up lying back on the ground of the mining section in the funhouse. He tried to remember what happened last but just as he moved something shifted on top of him. A brown jacket was laid on him like a blanket.

“What the fuck…?” he muttered and looked at the label inside the collar. It said nothing aside that it’s a size Large and it has JIMMY scribbled on in red pen. Then he remembered what happened before he fell unconscious - no, got knocked out (and god he filled with utter embarrassment that he did himself in) - Jimmy saw his chest and the scars. He fucking knows.

And worse, his shirt and jumper were put back on properly. He remembered struggling to get them back on in panic… then he slipped… (this was confirmed as he glanced and saw a puddle nearby formed from the drips of a leaky pipe overhead) and banged his head on the stupid handrail. But now here is, clothes back on neatly and a jacket from his sworn enemy covering him like a fucking blanket while he was out cold… Sudden fear panged his heart and he moved his legs, but felt nothing out of place and he almost passed out again in relief.

Moving to stand up, Kirby growled and bunched the jacket, deciding to carry it back to school…

Wait, what happened to his teammates?

“Hoi!” a deep voice made him jump and look down to see a security officer pointing at him angrily. “We’re closed now! Get outta here before I call the cops!”

“Alright, calm your tits!” Kirby snapped and began to climb down the ladder under the watchful eye of the man. He frowned and looked at him. “Wait, what time is it?”

“It’s just gone after 1am!” the guard barked and pushed his back, urging him to go faster much to his complaining, “hurry the fuck outta here, I gotta close up!”

Kirby’s eyes widened and he didn’t need telling twice to get out ASAP.

…

His trek to the bus stop went uninterrupted and managed to take the bus back to the academy, but he started to feel tired. Like, dead tired. Just how long was he unconscious for? He could swear it was almost midday when he went to the carnival after grabbing a snack bar in place of breakfast, but it’s almost been… 12 hours? Shit, he better go see a doctor in case…

The heater on the bus must be broken because he shivered and looked at the jacket in his hands hesitantly. Since it’s dark, nobody will see him wearing Jimmy’s jacket...

As he wandered past the open gates with the jacket on, peering in the darkness, he can make out the lights from torches flashing about wildly as if the owners are chasing something or someone, and they’re heading towards his direction.

“Shit,” he cursed under his breath and quickly stepped aside to kneel behind a bush.

Cackling was heard and a strange guy wearing punk-like clothing and huge boots ran past while being pursued by prefects.

“I’ll always get my man!” one of them yelled. A nauseous cloud of stink bomb smell clung to all 4 prefects and Kirby almost gagged as they ran past, seeing that they’ve been blatantly stink-bombed by an intruder who looks like a townie.

Eyelids growing heavier, Kirby suppressed a yawn and took the opportunity to sneak into the boys dormitory, where he stumbled into his room and collapsed into bed, not bothering to get changed.

…

Kirby’s alarm rung and he groaned, wiping the sleep from his eyes. He definitely didn’t sleep enough last night.

Brain on autopilot, he got out of bed and slowly moved towards the bathroom while holding his toothbrush and stood in front of the mirror, just tiredly brushing his teeth when he noticed Jimmy also doing the same thing, but slowed to a stop and looked at him with a curious look.

“What?” Kirby grumbled, not in a mood to fight anyone this early in the morning. He’s on his own too, so he can’t just start a fight…

“Feel free to leave my jacket in my room anytime,” he remarked, glancing at the brown jacket still being worn by the jock. “But if you want to keep it, I won’t mind.”

Kirby glanced down to see that he’s still wearing his clothes from last night and let out a loud groan, pointing his toothbrush at him threateningly.

“Tell anyone and I’ll kill you.”

“I won’t,” Jimmy said, looking back at the mirror, “I won’t tell anyone about you either.”

Kirby just gave him a long hard look before leaving the bathroom. Great. Now THREE people know about him with only one person being welcome enough to know.

…

Kirby noticed that something was up the moment he entered the boys changing rooms. Judging from the serious yells and hushed whispers, he can tell that someone is on the wrong end of the jocks. Again. He honestly swears that Ted always finds someone to call his greatest enemy - last week, it was Gord because he thought he gave him the finger when he was really just picking his nose. Kirby’s first thought was himself and if Gary let slip about his body, but then he heard Mandy’s name being repeated over and over again and he sighed in relief.

“Hey guys, what’s going on?” he asked as he approached them.

Ted looked up, furious. “Those fucking nerds took nudes of my girl Mandy and made posters out of them!” he ranted and cracked his knuckles. Kirby’s eyes almost left his skull. Nudes of a cheerleader he had a huge crush on - still does, but--

“No way!” he gaped, “we gotta beat the shit out of them!”

“That’s what I said!” Dan yelled, “I wanna squish those assholes like bugs!”

“How DID they get those photos of her anyway?” Luis spoke up curiously and Ted glared at him.

“Don’t care! All I know is that there are photos of my girl all over town and school!”

“I don’t think Mandy’s just for the team anymore,” Kirby uttered to himself. Who was he kidding? Mandy dated a lot of guys. He wouldn’t be surprised if she’s too flighty to ever settle down with anyone.

But even with that thought, Kirby and Bo found themselves ‘admiring’ a full-blown poster of Mandy wearing nothing but a towel while walking in town to get some limited edition Buzz Cola drinks from the Dragon’s Wing Comic book store.

“Man, she’s hot,” Bo commented with a whistle.

“Damn straight,” he nodded and the black teammate snorted. “What?”

“You’re anything but straight,” he sniggered and Kirby elbowed him.

“I’m--!” He went to argue but sighed. “Don’t take the piss outta me. It just means there’s more women available for you that I’m missing out on.”

“That’s a maths equation I can get behind,” Bo joked, “but seriously, bro, don’t stare at me in the shower.”

“As if I’d want to!” he snapped. “The only thing I wanna stare at is a good pair of tits! And some ass, preferably.”

Someone stepped in their vision wearing a black hoodie and hands in their front pocket, making the two jocks glance at each other in confusion before the familiar sound of a spray can alerted their senses. But before they could yell, spraypaint splattered over the poster, obscuring most of the image. Kirby reached over and yanked the perpetrator by their shoulder and spun them around, showing a pissed-off Jimmy Hopkins. The brunette’s eyes widened.

“What the fu--”

Jimmy slammed his face with the butt of the spraycan before charging off while Kirby yelled and held his bleeding nose.

“FUCKING HELL!” he burst while Bo bellowed in laughter, pointing at him.

“You just got... CANNED!” he roared and doubled over, close to crying while his teammate groaned in agony, angrily muttering about getting revenge on Hopkins.

…

Kirby and Bo returned to the clubhouse after buying a crate of drinks where a team meeting was being held. Everybody started putting on their football gear, smearing warpaint on their faces and even going far as to seize baseball bats; the two newcomers joined in the war effort even though they got no idea what’s going on. From the team blackboard, Ted looked at them all grimly, holding his helmet under his arm.

“I’ve broken up with Mandy,” he said, sounding heartbroken. “She doesn’t even want to look at me anymore. But Mr Burton told me that I can’t chase her away from the cheerleader group practice because she’s the best-lookin’ gal in the school and we need more beautiful women in the team.”

“What are we doing again?” Kirby spoke up, fastening the helmet strap under his chin.

“We…” Ted breathed, “are going to destroy the nerd’s hideout - the observatory!” His team members glanced at each other. “Gary Smith told me that they were definitely the ones who took photos of Mandy and spread lies about us and barnyard animals, and worse - Jimmy Hopkins is the one who took the photos for them!” His team reacted in disgust and groans. Kirby said nothing, wondering how the hell Jimmy could be so complex with other cliques despite him being a nobody.

“Where’s the observatory again?” Dan piped up and Ted hesitated.

“Gary said that there’s a secret shortcut to the observatory through an alleyway by the library!” he remembered with pride, “I say we go that way, armed to the teeth like soldiers, and destroy everything in the observatory and beat up every person inside!”

“What if there’s a teacher in there?” Damon asked lightly, crossing his arms as Ted spluttered.

“That’s not likely! The place is falling apart anyway!” he said quickly, “we’re just doing the headmaster a favour and… saving the school money from demolishing fees!” Kirby mentally rolled his eyes. “That’s enough! Let’s roll out, boys!” They all roared and began to march outside.

…

Other school members wondered what was going on when the Bullworth football team marched outside their usual territory and towards the library in full gear. Some wondered if it’s a Match Day, but that’s not for another few months. Teachers shrugged as they ignored a potentially volatile situation and carried on walking inside the main school building. There are no nerds in sight apart from Beatrice as she just sat on a bench eating ice cream, only to stare in shock as one-by-one, each jock hopped over the brick wall at the side of the library building and passed a (mysteriously) open electronic door, feet pounding against the hard dusty ground like soldiers heading to war.

“We’re nearly there, men!” Ted boasted, pointing ahead of him at some high ledges where the familiar astronomy club vest-wearing nerds perched, yelling to each other like jungle rats. He pulled his visor down as his fellow compatriots did the same. “CHARGE!!”

The other guys yelled and steps turned to stamps as they charged head-on down the dirt path which will inevitably lead them to their destination. Fireworks screamed and firecrackers were thrown at the incoming army, temporarily blinding or stunning some of the heavily-armoured soldiers as a handful managed to power on. Kirby blinked rapidly at the flashes and his hearing disappeared as a projectile exploded right by his head, but thankfully the padding of the helmet cushioned the blow to his eardrum and after shaking himself he felt better. But ahead of him, standing in front of the poorly-constructed barricade of corrugated iron was no other than Jimmy Hopkins, holding what looks like a potato gun as sweat sheened on his forehead. Kirby felt his heart drop.

Then their eyes met. Behind him, his comrades have fallen, crying and groaning at injuries sustained from the exploding projectiles and spuds. For a brief moment, the world stopped turning and time ceased to tick before a strange look crossed Jimmy’s face - a look Kirby could swear was of regret - and he fired his potato gun right at him.

Kirby held his breath to brace for impact, only to hear a loud splat of the potato smashing against the ground in front of him, startling him into halting in his tracks.

“Run!” Jimmy mouthed before quickly turning to hop over the fence as the other nerds screamed for a retreat.

Behind Kirby, Damon helped Ted to his feet, both coughing as they had been winded by a potato gun onslaught. The leader of the team snarled, ready for blood, and started shouting at his moaning team members to motivate them, to get them moving, and as they did so with reluctance, Kirby grumbled under his breath. Caring or not, Jimmy is fucking dead meat.

They smashed the barricade down, starting their run towards a metal door under the mountain’s overpass and punched through that with ease. They heard a strangely deep whirring noise somewhere but ignored it as they ran around the corner and saw the observatory standing tall ahead of them behind shut feeble gates, above which a cannon sat atop with someone at the rig. It’s Jimmy, again.

“Jimmy’s mine!” Ted screamed and they all roared, feet pounding the ground when suddenly they all began slipping and falling over patches of marbles. But the humiliation didn’t end there, as suddenly massive potatoes began thud-thud-thudding out of the giant cannon and smashing into their faces and bodies, rapidly knocking the jocks out one-by-one with screams dying in their throats. Kirby panicked, looking up, then at the gate, where a group of nerds cheered and celebrated. His boiled reaching an all-high new boiling point and he leapt ahead, only to be hit in the head by a stray firework fired by one of the nerds and knocked him out.

…

The infirmary filled up with the entire football team as whispers spread through Bullworth that the nerds have beaten up the jocks, which was met with fierce denial by Ted and reinforced by Damon, his faithful right-hand man, as they were walked by prefects into the main building bruised and humiliated. Most of all, Jimmy is officially the most Wanted man in Bullworth history with a walking death wish on his head. Kirby hissed as the school doctor carelessly pressed an ice patch on his cheek and he avoided glaring at her. Rumour has it that she knows a million ways to kill someone with a single ice cube and that involved guerilla warfare tactics…

His thoughts broke when the door to the infirmary slammed open and Trent rushed inside, out of breath and stunned before running to Kirby and stopping by him.

“Is it true?!” he gasped out and the doctor glared at him. “Is it true that the NERDS have beaten up all the jocks?!”

“Shut up!” Kirby growled, “and for the record, it was HOPKINS that did us all in with a stupid spud cannon!” Trent’s eyes almost popped out his skull.

“The nerds made a SPUD CANNON?”

“Why are you more surprised by that?!” Kirby ranted and stood up off his seat, watched on in amusement by his teammates. “HOPKINS just cheated and beaten us up with a bag of fucking marbles and a cannon!” The blonde actor hooted in laughter, wiping his eyes.

“What a fight! I wish I’d have seen it!” he wheezed and Kirby almost lost his mind. He dropped the ice pack to throw it away and punch him, only to think better. Instead, he suddenly grabbed Trent’s trousers from the front - which made the other guys stare in shock - before tugging the band back and dropped the ice pack down inside and Trent screamed and jump back.

Ted and the others forgot about their bruises and bellowed in laughter, applauding Kirby while the blonde quickly dove his hands down his trousers to pull the freezing bag before it could fuse to his… extremities. Meanwhile, the doctor yelled at them and Kirby decided to make a run for it, followed by a shivering Trent.

As they left the infirmary, arms wrapped around Kirby and his face flamed as Trent kissed his neck. He yelped in shock and struggled as he was lifted off his feet, feeling his body rub against Trent.

“Revenge time!” he cooed against his ear. “You gotta warm me up, now!”

Kirby shrieked in embarrassment and tried kicking out, but it was futile. His short legs have betrayed him.

As Trent carried him down the steps with a tight grip, Seth the prefect saw them but hesitated as he tried to think of a random rule that they’ve broken - but agonised as none came up. Maybe public displays of affection aren’t allowed? Shit, no, this is Bullworth, much worse things than kissing and making out have happened in the boys toilets. Seth cursed, snapped his fingers, and stormed off to yell at the clouds.

Nothing overly promiscuous happened between Trent and Kirby, aside from a tickling session which dissolved into making-out. But just as Trent’s hand touched his stomach under his jumper, the school bell rung for afternoon classes and he mentally cursed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually used marbles in the mission where you have to defend the observatory. I laid bags of marbles on the ground at the corner where the jocks ran at (at the furthest left pillar) then proceeded to just fire at them with the spud cannon. A couple may slip past, but the marbles will have slowed them down enough to make them easy targets.
> 
> Also... you can actually get to the observatory via the football field, but Ted's not that bright to notice.


	7. A Match Day

Days have passed and the day of the Big Game has finally arrived. Kirby woke up feeling brighter than the sun and smiled, so high in happiness that he practically bounced out of bed and charged to the bathrooms, even losing the care to worry about people seeing his chest as he showered while singing the Bullworth Anthem out loud. Other people in the communal showers heard him belting out the lyrics, sniggering, but then someone else joined - Jimmy Hopkins stood outside Kirby’s cubicle, also singing along. Not knowing that it was the ginger, Kirby felt more energised and carried on harmonising together.

Bullworth Bulls a-go!  
Take the horns, ring the bell!  
Visitors will be sent to hell!  
Bullworth! Bullworth!

Under a watchful eye of Jimmy, other students began to pitch in, all knowing the anthem by heart.

Nerds will run and scream,  
When they hear the Bullworth theme!  
Girl will swoon and guys will jeer,  
When the team run on without fear!  
Bullworth! Bullworth!

Kirby, with a towel slung over his shoulder and mist from the showers building up like a smokescreen, strutted out the shower cubicle with the biggest grin and everyone’s voices rose higher.

Oh Bullworth, Bullworth!  
Glory to the Bullworth Bulls!  
We will win every game and kiss the gold…  
.Because a win is for the bold!

The students threw their hands in the air and Jimmy wished that there was a brass band playing at this moment.

Bullwooorth! Bullwooorth!  
Our life is ooours on every football field!

The theme ended and everybody roared rapturously and applauded loudly before resuming their hygiene routine. Kirby smiled like a madman, feeling more pumped up than ever for a great game as he ran to his room to get changed for warm-up practice.

…

Classes have been cancelled for the jocks as the school felt it’s more important for them to practice for the big game - they’re playing against a rival school and a win will mean they’ll advance to the next league table in the inter-school national league board, effectively bringing them to the top among the stars. More than ever, Mr Burton is pulling on all the stops to bring everyone to peak physical performance, including allowing the cheerleader squad to practice on the field. Kirby whistled at Mandy with a wink and she giggled, hiding her face behind her pom-pom seductively before feeling Dan smack him upright on the head and snapped his attention to him with a glare.

“Dude! The game is today!” Dan whispered, “plus I’m going to ask Mandy out when we win the game!”

“Whatever!” the brunette chuckled, “we will kick ass, chew bubblegum AND hold that shiny gold trophy in our hands…”

“Then you’ll make out with Trent in front of everyone,” Dan grinned and Kirby hissed at him like a cat before slamming into his side as they began jogging alongside the other jocks. In the middle of the field, they watched the Bullworth Bull mascot dancing about in amusement.

“Mascot, you better sharpen up!” they heard Mr Burton screech, “fuck off over there!” Dan and Kirby snorted.

“So now what?” Kirby wondered out loud. “We train, go into the game, and win…”

“Dude, what are you ON?” Dan spluttered, “after that, we celebrate! After all…” He dropped his voice so that only he can hear him, “I smuggled some beer into the clubhouse to break out when Mr Burton goes home!” Kirby laughed.

“You genius!” he grinned.

“I’m not a nerd!” Dan spat quickly, and Kirby for a moment gave him a sad look forgetting that ‘genius’ is not a word to use on him because his younger brother, Thad, is a maths genius.

“Hoi! Leave the mascot alone!” a yell broke their thoughts and they looked to see Jimmy shooting a potato gun at the Bullworth mascot. Kirby yelled in frustration and charged towards the new kid, waving his fists. He’s NOT spoiling the Big Game day!

“Leave the Bullworth Bull alone! Only jocks can beat him up!” he shouted and Jimmy turned upon hearing him, only to run away while being pursued by the mascot and other members of his team.

It’s unknown why Jimmy harassed the bull, but while that unnerved Kirby--

“Seriously, you want to bone him,” Dan joked while they sat down at the bleachers for a quick break and Kirby just ascended to a new plane of existence.

“Fuck you!” he spat and pushed him, but the redhead snorted.

“Seriously! You hate him so much, you complained about him last night non-stop for two whole hours!” he explained with a grin. “But man, the other guys better watch out because you’re NOT being subtle about your sexuality.” Kirby paled and quickly looked at him.

“What?! But I’m not! I-I mean, I AM being subtle!”

“Dude, you made out with Trent on the common room sofa then denied kissing him when I walked in!” Dan bellowed in laughter, “what’s so bad about dating a guy?”

“YOU KNOW!” Kirby yelped, “GUYS! GUYS DATING EACH OTHER! It’s just not normal!”

“Big deal!” Dan rolled his eyes, “yeah, it’s weird, but I kinda got used to it the second I figured yer into guys too.” Kirby paused, staring at him.

“‘Too?’ Dan…”

“Don’t get any funny thoughts,” Dan warned him, “I ain’t gay, I was talking about other people. Like Gord. That guy may stink of money, but I caught him spanking Jimmy’s butt last week and winking at him.” Kirby held his hands to his mouth in shock. Dan nodded. “And Vance is definitely not subtle about his attraction. He rhymes more around people he considers hot.”

“I didn’t think you notice that in people,” Kirby commented, “so who else is gay or bi or whatever?”

“Trent is definitely the bi-est person I’ve seen,” Dan nodded, “and you’re lucky to have him.”

“Why?”

“He got you a scooter!” Dan burst in surprise, “how many guys have you met who would give their girlfriends a SCOOTER?!”

“Okay, first of all, it’s OUR scooter,” Kirby corrected, “all he did was pool his tickets with mine… that we technically stole… then said that the scooter is ours! And I would DEFINITELY be the kind of guy to get a vehicle for a gal!” But Dan shook his head.

“No, seriously, then he checks in on you after practice, and gives you flowers, and he even stopped bullying little kids just so that he can help you with homework!” Dan listed Trent’s givings with each finger on his right hand, but carried on; “AND gives you the best fruit from the cafeteria, proposes to be your model in every still-life art class even though he bitches a mile about sore muscles, gives you his scarf in cold weather and walks you to the school!” He finished, almost out of breath. Kirby could only watch him in silence, thinking over the blonde’s generosity over the academic year.

“But…” he murmured, “...isn’t that friends would do?”

“Oh COME ON!” Dan groaned loudly, “would I do all that stuff for you?! No! You’re my best friend, but I’m not that touchy-feely! Don’t you understand, you lunatic? You have a guy who genuinely loves you and you’re just thinking about Mandy’s tits and what girl to bang!”

“It’s not a problem!” Kirby said defensively, “Trent flirts with Christy a lot and takes photos of the girls! I don’t mind!” Dan’s eyes almost boggled.

“DUDE. MARRY HIM ALREADY. This tension is killing me!”

Kirby blushed and opened his mouth to yell when Mr Burton ran up to them screaming with a plum-purple face from all the extra running: “I’LL BE THE ONE KILLING PEOPLE IF YOU DON’T GET YOUR GODDAMN ASSES BACK INTO PRACTICE! GO, GO, GO!” And Dan and Kirby had no choice but to finish their break and run back.

…

Kirby wanted to believe that today’s game will go smoothly, but of course just as you want things to go without a hitch, shit happens.

Like for some reason, he found a few of his teammates complaining because someone glued their benches and tore their shorts so they had to wear spares which weren’t considered ‘lucky’ enough to be worn. Then for some reason marbles were thrown onto the field causing practicing members to fall over and pull muscles. Kirby left the clubhouse with Dan, grabbing a ball to practice with, trying to clear his mind but the incidents happening earlier bothered him. He gave the ball his best toss - shouting “INTERCEPTION!” - and Dan reached out, grabbing it--

BOOM!

Stunned, Kirby stared as an explosion knocked out his best friend. Jerking into action he ran over to check his unconscious form and quickly shook his shoulder.

“DAN!” he yelled. Nearby, Juri and Ted stormed up to them in outrage.

“What’s going on?!” Ted demanded, looking at the two.

“Th-the ball exploded!” the brunette spluttered and looked at the fragments of fake leather over the ground, “someone replaced the ball!” Juri cracked his knuckles.

“Let’s find the bitch and break them!” he growled, but Ted held his shoulder.

“Steady. We dun know who did it, but…” he looked around the field, seeing nothing out of the ordinary among the groups of jogging footballers, bouncing cheerleaders and the Bullworth Mascot twerking seductively while shaking two pom-poms at the bleachers. “If we act up, the crook will run away!”

“You saying we just wait until shit happens?!” Kirby argued in disbelief and Ted tapped his nose grimly.

“Gary says if something weird happens, then it’s the easy thing to do.”

That name is really starting to bother Kirby. He wanted to argue further, but Dan stirred with a groan and he quickly helped him to his feet.

“Take me to the changing rooms…” the redhead groaned and his friend obliged, giving him support.

Kirby dropped Dan off in the changing room, leaving him to lie down on a bench after taking painkillers and walked out to see Mandy and Damon talking outside in the corridor casually, and he joined while thinking over and over about the strange pranks going on.

“...There’s a rumour that someone is going to screw up the game,” he added before his eye caught sight of the water cooler and remembered how dry his mouth was from all the practicing. Grabbing a cup, he quickly poured himself a drink and gulped back the whole lot without stopping. But a sharp taste hit his tongue and throat, a sickly stench that twisted his stomach like--

Kirby vomited and Mandy screamed while Damon laughed his head off.

…

One whole packet of breath mints later, Kirby was back in the field jogging off his nausea alongside grumbling teammates who are murmuring theories on who could possibly spoil the match day. He glanced to his side at the Bullworth Bull dancing in front of the cheerleading squad, realising that he hasn’t beaten the mascot up in hours. He stretched his arms with a grunt, mentally preparing to confront the mascot later…

“Kirby!” he heard a shout and he looked to see Trent at the bleachers waving at him happily. His heart leapt with motivation. No surprise that he skipped class, but it’s for HIM and it made him feel strangely special. “Good luck, today!”

The brunette flashed him a smile before wondering why the blonde’s mouth suddenly dropped in pure shock. He turned to glance behind him, seeing the scoreboard and the text running beneath it saying: ‘JOCKS PLAY WITH THEIR BALLS’ as bright as fucking day. His teammates yelled and complained as the Bullworth mascot casually strode away from the booth behind the scoreboard and removed the head, revealing Jimmy Hopkins.

Kirby lost his senses. Now it all makes sense. The marbles, the strangely bold nature of the Bullworth Bull, the glue, the spiked-drink--

He heaved. Realisation hit him hard as he finally remembered why the drink tasted disgusting:

He drank Jimmy’s piss.

“TEAM ASSEMBLE!” Ted roared and before Kirby knew it, it’s the Jocks versus Jimmy Hopkins, the most sudden match of the century with the entire school as their witnesses.

…

The tale of the fateful day when a new kid took on the varsity team and defeated them will be told for generations to come. The day where Ted, the fearless leader, got humiliated by Jimmy in front of the entire school has also been immortalised in photographs taken by numerous nerds who later revealed that they helped Jimmy plot the downfall of the school’s social hierarchy and dismantled the norms like a wet paper bag. But while it was a blow to the pride of clique leaders, they’ve all become good friends with Jimmy Hopkins, including Ted much to Kirby’s dismay.

“Asshole,” he grumbled in secret as he sat at the bleachers, watching Jimmy flirt with Mandy on the football field. Trent chuckled and wrapped an arm around him.

“At least the other school didn’t turn up to see you guys get humiliated, because THAT would be a real blow!”

The opposition that were meant to take on the Bullworth Bulls cancelled at the last minute, citing strange incidents of sudden food poisoning, so the team automatically won the championship and have advanced to the next league table. It didn’t stop the school rapturously celebrating for hours on end, but for Kirby he felt that it was all ruined. For the first time, he refused to go to the party and just went to bed early. In all honesty, he hasn’t missed anything important apart from apparent video recordings of nerds dancing in the canteen half-naked.

“What’s so special about him?” Kirby grumbled for the umpteenth time and Trent rolled his eyes but hugged him with his arm anyway.

“Kiss him and find out.”

“Trent, having homosexual encounters will not answer all my questions.”

The blonde kissed his cheek gently and Mandy saw, pointing and squealing.

“I KNEW you were gay!” she gasped loudly and quickly ran off, much to Jimmy’s amusement as he glanced at the furious brunette scorching holes in his skull--

Kirby snatched himself away from Trent to get ready for gym class. Wrestling is on today.

…

It didn’t take long for Mandy to tell everyone she knows that she saw Kirby being kissed on the cheek, because 10 minutes later when he went to gym class in his attire the class started whispering immediately, but Kirby shot them glares.

“What?! You all want some poundcake?!”

“Trent does,” he heard someone murmur and he whipped around to hold his fists up, but Mr Burton jogged inside the gym yelling.

“Alright, you maggots!” he began, “today, we’re going to have one-on-one wrestling matches! Olsen! You’re up with Cornelius!”

Kirby smirked and stepped into the circle, but noticed people moving slowly to look as the aforementioned nerd suddenly collapsed. Their teacher groaned hysterically.

“WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT FAINTING DURING CLASS?!” he screamed, “THAD! TAKE HIM TO THE NURSE AND BE BACK IN 5 MINUTES OR YOU’LL GET DETENTION!” Thad groaned and dragged his shaking friend outside before calling for assistance, and the doors slammed shut. Mr Burton looked like he was about to lose a portapotty full a shit. He turned to the rest of the class before pointing a fat finger at a familiar classmate. “YOU, HOPKINS! YOU’RE AGAINST OLSEN!”

Kirby stopped smirking as he watched the ginger step into the circle wearing his full wrestling gear, looking interested at his choice of opponent.

“Ready?” their teacher blasted and stepped back, “WRESTLE!”

Jimmy took the brunette by surprise, suddenly leaning down and wrapping his arms around his legs, lifting and knocking him backwards. The gasps and jeers filled the gym as Kirby, winded, swung his leg free and managed to wrap it around Jimmy’s neck, hauling himself to swing his body around so that he’s practically piggy-back riding him. Other jocks hooted while the nerds booed him, fuelling a brief moment of pride before Jimmy suddenly dropped backwards and squashed the other male against the mat. Ooohs hummed in sympathy as the dazed brunette dizzily tried to get back up, but the ginger seized his left leg and pushed it to Kirby’s head and chest as far as he can, making the other yelp and resist as his muscles pulled beyond natural capacity. Not to mention that Jimmy’s crotch was rubbing against the back of his thigh in this position...

“3! 2! 1! TIME!” Mr Burton screeched and Jimmy let go of the stunned jock, “excellent, Hopkins! You see, class?! THAT’S how you wrestle! Olsen! You’re a disgrace to your friends, your family and the team! Fuck off to the showers!”

Kirby’s mind swam as his fantasies ran wild, mostly involving ‘wrestling’ moves with half-nudity. A hand appeared in his vision and he blindly reached out for it as it clasped his hand and pulled him to his feet. His vision cleared and Jimmy gave him a nod, patting his shoulder with his free hand. Realising what’s going on, Kirby yanked his hand away in disgust, while his mind ran free with plotbunnies overpopulating with new sexual ideas.

“Meet me behind the bleachers after class,” Jimmy murmured as he walked away and Kirby almost pounded him into the ground (with his fists, that is!) where he stood.

…

Luckily Trent is too busy being in detention so he wasn’t lingering outside the gym waiting for Kirby, who instead left the building and ran down to the field, avoiding his teammates, and suddenly paused. Which bleachers did Jimmy want to meet him at? There’s two.

“Over here,” a voice perked and Kirby turned to his right to see Jimmy in his schoolwear giving him a casual wave. Sighing heavily, the brunette approached him with his shoulders back to look bigger. Jimmy lead him further behind the structure before pausing with his hands in his pockets.

“I didn’t tell Mandy that you’re gay.”

“Really now?” Kirby snapped.

“Seriously!” Jimmy pleaded, “and I know you’re dating Trent, so I’m not making any more moves on him.”

“That’s why you called me here?” Kirby said, crossing his arms. “Because you’re not fooling me! I know you’re going to just tell everyone about me!” The ginger blinked and he snarled; “You know what I’m talking about! And I’ll burn your stupid jacket later too!”

“Wait a sec,” Jimmy shut his eyes in thought before opening them, “I think we got off on the wrong foot somewhere. Why’re you mad at ME for?”

Kirby didn’t know why, and he’s angry about it.

“I don’t know!” he blurted, furious, “you joined this school, knocked out all the clique leaders and… and k-kissed EVERYBODY!” Jimmy looked at him in shock before relaxing.

“So? I can kiss whoever I want,” he shrugged, “want me to name everyone I kissed since coming here? Because you can join that list if ya want.” Kirby’s mind almost went into a full meltdown. Jimmy held his hands up. “Just kidding. Honestly, though, I got no problems with you, so if you got nothing to say to me, then just walk away and I’ll ignore you.”

Kirby would have been satisfied with that, but unfortunately he is too hot-headed to leave.

“No,” he snarled and walked right up to Jimmy until they were almost nose-to-nose, looking as intimidating as possible, “how many secrets can you keep before you start yakking?”

“Depends,” Jimmy said neutrally, staring back at Kirby’s eyes, “I know lots of secrets from the other cliques that would bring them lower than the nerds, but I only know one of yours.”

It may be because of the position that they’re in, in the shadow behind the bleachers out of sight of the world, standing toe-to-toe, but Kirby felt an odd boost in confidence. Not to mention that his earlier encounter with the other male in Gym class bolstered his already festering fantasies to a whole new level that even outshines Trent’s theatre performance. For once, he didn’t notice his heart hammering away as he spoke when he leaned closer.

“Make that two,” he murmured before shutting his eyes and felt Jimmy kiss him, hugging him close as they tilted their heads, moving into a makeout session.

The wide receiver is already used to making out, but with Trent it’s always slow. It bothers him having to match his pace otherwise he’d get a comment about him being ‘clingy’ but with Jimmy… just wow, he’s passionate. And talented with his tongue, as the brunette found out as his slid over his tongue and he held back a gasp before being pushed against the wall. Is he like this with everyone else? They parted from the wet kiss; Kirby’s ears burning as he examined Jimmy’s amused expression.

“So we’re cool, then?” he stated simply and held his hand out.

“I-I… guess,” Kirby stammered and shook it.

“Good,” Jimmy nodded, “you know, you’re pretty cool, Kirby.” The brunette stared at him.

“Th-thanks!” he puffed his chest out in pride, “Bullworth couldn’t have gone to the finals without MY contribution!” Jimmy’s lips curved slightly and he walked past him, patting his shoulder.

“And for the record…” he said, lowing his voice, “I don’t care if you burn my jacket or not. I only left it on you because the funhouse was cold.” Kirby thought about himself, his gender, and shut his eyes.

“Why aren’t you freaking out about me?”

“Why would I?” Jimmy shrugged, “firstly, it’s none of my business. Second, it’s got nothing to do with anything.” Kirby gulped anxiously and faced him.

“But if ANYONE finds out about me--”

“They won’t,” Jimmy said firmly, “Trent loves you too much and I only give people what they deserve.”

“But Gary knows!” Kirby yelled and the ginger stared at him in shock before his look turned grim. The brunette inhaled, explaining; “I take testosterone, but he knows that it can also enhance physical performance. If the school finds out, I’ll be banned from sports and I could get expelled.”

“How’d you store the stuff?”

“In bottles. I hide them under my bed.”

“Alright, then,” Jimmy cracked his knuckles. “What’d you do when they’re empty?”

“I dump them in the bin…” Kirby paused and cursed, “Gary must’ve gone in the bins and found the one he showed me.”

“In that case, leave the rubbish to me,” Jimmy insisted, “that way, if anyone goes dumpster-diving again to pull evidence up on you, they’ll have nothing to find. Also, I’ll meet you tonight in your room at 9. We gotta find you a better place to hide your medication.”

“Wait, what?” the jock blinked, “but it’s the best place I know that’s under my watch!”

“I know, but trust me, I know an even better place,” Jimmy said, “I’ll meet you later, okay? Make sure nobody else is around.”


	8. A Broken Day

Kirby wondered if it was a good idea to out himself to Jimmy by telling him about himself, because hours ago he was brewing ideas of revenge and poundcakes against him, but that changed when he deliberately made out with him. Although it might’ve been the compliment that Jimmy patted him with that won him over, he was still unsure about trusting Jimmy completely.

At 9pm sharp, his dorm room door rattled under Jimmy’s knocking and he answered it to see the ginger wearing his casual outfit, minus his jacket as it’s currently sitting on Kirby’s chair.

“Ready?”

“Where’re we going, then?” he asked, kneeling under his bed and dragged the box out. Jimmy eyed it for a couple of seconds before nodding in satisfaction.

“Good. It’ll fit.”

“Where?” Kirby probed, growing impatient the longer the box is out from under his bed.

“Follow me,” Jimmy said simply before walking out, and Kirby quickly followed him.

Luckily there are not many students out at this time of night as they ran to the dorms in anticipation of the curfew time, but Kirby still felt wary carrying the precious load with him out in the open, under the watchful eyes of prefects or sneaky little kids.

They approached the football field and Kirby practically stopped breathing and froze to the spot, staring at the field lit up by floodlights. Jimmy turned and approached him, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Trust me, it’s a great hiding place. It’s in the clubhouse.”

“That’s a terrible hiding place!” Kirby snapped in horror, backing up. “I’m keeping this in my room!”

“Kirby, relax!” Jimmy said quickly before looking around. “You know how I went into a dodgeball match with some of your jock friends a couple of days ago? Well, that was for me to win the right to use the place however the hell I want to.”

“Seriously?” Kirby gaped.

“Yeah. And I found a pretty sweet hiding spot under the floorboards,” Jimmy grinned. “So come on, follow me.”

Still feeling unsettled and irritated, Kirby followed the other male down the steps and towards the clubhouse, where Jimmy used a spare key to open up and allowed him inside. The brunette glanced around the clubhouse, noticing how strangely clean it looked compared to before Jimmy settled himself here. The balls were arranged in different boxes according to their sport, bats have been polished and the photos on the walls were dusted after years of neglect. The chalkboard has even been wiped clean so thoroughly that it looks like brand new. Not to mention that the smell of beer from the rampant celebrations is completely gone. Did Jimmy use a whole can of air freshener in here?

“I thought I’d give this place a clean,” Jimmy mentioned, starting to push the mattress and boxes aside with a grinding noise before standing up straight with a sigh. “You jocks are worse than I am at housekeeping.” Kirby decided to ignore that.

“So where’s this hiding place then?” he asked. He watched as Jimmy knelt down to poke his finger in a hole in the floorboards and tugged up a trapdoor, much to the jock’s shock as it revealed a small space. “Holy shit. How?!”

“I found it by accident,” Jimmy grinned at his surprise, “pass the box here.”

Still stunned, Kirby passed it over and Jimmy carefully lowered it into the dark space before dragging the trapdoor back over into place, looking like an ordinary part of the flooring once more.

“That’s incredible,” Kirby breathed, thinking hard, “but who else knows about it?”

“Just us,” he answered and started to push the boxes and mattress back into place. “How often do you need to inject?”

“Once every two weeks,” Kirby said, “that’s what I’m told, but it feels right. I already injected yesterday.”

“Good,” Jimmy said, “and there you have it. If Gary ever comes back to your room and tries to sneak any out, he’ll find nothing. The worst that can happen is him having rumours of you being trans spreading around, but we all know that rumours die out after a week. Just keep denying them.”

“Yeah, like the ghost in the girl’s dorm attic,” Kirby laughed nervously.

“Been there, haven’t seen anyone,” Jimmy shrugged and the brunette looked at him quickly in shock.

“YOU snuck into the girls dorm too?!”

“Who wouldn’t?” Jimmy grinned and Kirby laughed until the other relaxed. “Also, if you need someone to pick up the stuff from wherever you buy them from, just ask me. I’m pretty much the odd-jobs guy of the school.” Although Kirby thought about how much he dwindled his pocket money on sneaky snacks, he decided at that moment to save his money.

“Thanks,” he sighed. “But don’t think you’re off the hook.”

“Whatever,” Jimmy rolled his eyes, “by the way, it’s almost 11. You better hurry back.”

“Shit, already?!” Kirby panicked and grabbed his wrist to check his Aquaberry watch, “I’m off!” But despite saying that he stopped by the doors to see Jimmy moving onto the bed. “Aren’t you coming?”

“Nah, I’m bunking here,” he said casually, “I’ll only slow you down.”

Without another word, Kirby left the clubhouse and ran back to the dorm just before the clock hit 11, yet even as he’s lying in bed he couldn’t sleep. He doesn’t feel like sleeping at all. But he needs to sleep. He has to sleep his 7 hours. 7 hours…

He relaxed, shut his eyes, and imagined sheep hurdling over a fence. But then his mind wandered to their movie date, remembering how sweaty his hand was in nervousness. The feel of Trent’s skin against his palm calmed him down, but then his vision darkened and blood spattered in his mind along with yells and screams, someone kicking his ribs and breaking his legs--

“Kirby!” A shout woke the brunette up and he didn’t breathe, eyes wide as saucers and barely registering Trent’s panicked face staring down at his as he held his shoulders to the bed as a couple of other students stood by gawping at the scene.

Kirby forgot how to breathe properly, only inhaling shallow gaspy breaths until Trent relaxed his grip on his shoulders and sat down beside him, holding his hand. He quickly uttered for the other guys to get out and they did, closing the door behind them.

“I’m here now, you’re safe, just take a deep breath…” Trent carried on speaking to him softly, over and over, until Kirby’s chest heaved dryly and he rapidly blinked his teary eyes. “Was it a bad nightmare?”

Kirby could only nod, wondering why the hell he had such a nightmare. Covered in sweat, he grimaced and sat up, rubbing his own forehead to ease a headache.

“Yeah… I’m alright now.”

Then Trent spoke softly and said; “Want me to sleep with you tonight?”

He expected Kirby to say no, so he stood up only to suddenly have his hand grasped and he stared in shock at the brunette with is head hung low.

“Stay… but don’t tell anyone.”

Happy to oblige, Trent kicked his shoes off and Kirby scooted over to give him space, tugging the sheet over their bodies. Although the bed could barely fit both of them, they cuddled close, Kirby resting his head in his chest as he felt the blonde wrap his arms around him. The warmth of their bodies matched, envying the low-budget central heating, as they fell asleep together peacefully. Before Trent fell asleep, he stroked the brunette’s hair and pressed a kiss to his head.

…

Something was up the second Kirby woke up with Trent to the blaring fire alarm. The two groaned and automatically moved out of bed and made their way outside with the masses when Johnny Vincent suddenly stormed up to Trent and punched his face, knocking him back against the steps and screaming above the din of the alarm. His clothes were ragged like he spent the night in the wild.

“I KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO LOLA, YOU BASTARD!”

Kirby quickly got over his confusion stepped between them, anger boiling his fists as he got into a fighting stance.

“YOU WANT SOME, TOUGH GUY?!” he yelled and followed the angry greaser’s steps, acting as a shield for Trent who gasped and held his bleeding nose. “LEAVE TRENT ALONE!”

“HE FUCKED LOLA!” the greaser screeched and seized Kirby’s shoulders to try and push him aside, but the wide receiver is much more power-packed than he thought. “I’LL KILL HIM!”

“You’ll have to go through me first!” the brunette snarled. Johnny did, and punched the brunette, but he saw it coming and braced for impact by covering his left cheek, and sprung forward to push the angry clique leader to the ground, landing a blow to his face. Surrounding them, other boys cheered loudly and roared as the boys exchanged punches and rolled each other around, and a lot of kicking was involved until an angry voice ceased the fight.

“STOP! IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!” It was a goddamn prefect storming up to them, but Johnny took advantage of Kirby’s momentary confusion and shoved him off, swinging a kick to his crotch and everybody gasped. Kirby hissed, but backed up quickly oblivious to some stares at his lack of screaming from being kicked where the sun doesn’t shine. Trent saw in horror, deciding to speak up quickly:

“Holy crap! Kirby’s SO strong, he can withstand a kick to the nuts!” To his relief, the others started to murmur, impressed by Kirby’s strength and willpower. Kirby himself ran away while the prefect apprehended a yelling Johnny.

“What the fuck was that about?!” Kirby ranted to nobody in particular, deciding that hiding by the girl’s dorm is the safest place. He peeked around the corner to see Johnny being held down by 4 prefects as the other guys went back inside the dorm to get changed for the day. The brunette waited until the madman was dragged inside the school and he made a dash back to his room, where Trent was busy wiping blood off his own face with a wince.

“My face!” he whined, “I can’t go on commercials like this!”

Thinking of his tenderness last night and with adrenaline wearing off out of his system, Kirby walked up and hugged him from behind, shocking him.

“Weird morning, huh?” he muttered. Trent nodded wordlessly before wriggling to turn around and tilt his chin up so he could kiss his bloody lip.

…

Things only got stranger around the school. Dissent among the cliques grew towards others and more fights broke out than normal as well as growing numbers of complaints being made with Jimmy’s name laced within them. Kirby tried to ignore the allegations that Jimmy is trying to screw everyone over, but after hearing Christy in the cafeteria gossiping about the ginger wanting to take over the school and backstabbing everyone he slammed his tray down and stormed out. In truth, he doesn’t want to believe that Jimmy would betray him alone, considering their little heart-to-heart the other day.

Which brought him to the clubhouse which was left unlocked and he entered, seeing nobody about inside or in the field as classes are running. He’d get in trouble now if a prefect catches him, but he doesn’t care. He went to the bed, kicked the boxes and mattress over, lifted the trapdoor-

His box is gone.

Kirby’s heart seized in panic and dove both hands into the dark depth, wondering if it’s simply out of sight, but it’s not there. His testosterone is gone.

“No…!” He whispered in horror and glanced around quickly, but nobody is around. That didn’t alleviate his fear either. He remembered the one time he forgot to inject and his period started, which sent him into a full-blown dysphoric episode that almost had him reveal everything about himself to the team. Blood running like ice, he slammed the trapdoor back in place but didn’t bother to settle the bed back as he charged outside, off to fucking DESTROY Jimmy Hopkins for destroying his trust…!

He ran to Chemistry class and proceeded to be yelled at by Dr Watts, but Jimmy wasn’t there. He left quickly before the teacher could finish lecturing him and went to the boys toilets, but Vance was in a cubicle singing away. He even checked the lockers that were frequently picked by Jimmy but the only person inside one of them was Algernon, who thanked him endlessly. Nerves jittering, Kirby made his way down to the gym, hoping that he’ll be there, but alas he was not there.

“Fuck…” he sighed when Mandy approached him with a big smile.

“Hi, Kirby! Looking for Trent?”

“Nah, Jimmy… borrowed something of mine and I want to give him poundcake,” he answered, defeated.

“Oh… I haven’t seen him, actually - but can you do me a favour, if you don’t mind?” she asked sweetly. She seemed to be acting more humble lately, Kirby’s not sure why, but he kinda liked this less-bitchy version of the head cheerleader.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Mr Burton asked me to untie the climbing frames, but I don’t like heights and Juri is busy…” They both glanced over at the beefy jock stretching, “...so can you reach up for me, please?”

“Sure, no probs...” Kirby shrugged. He hoped that this distraction will clear his mind.

His hands met the cold bars and climbed up to the top, untying the rope that held the tall frame to the wall. The hinges squeaked precariously as the climbing bars wobbled, but it’s nothing new. The gym seriously needs to update all it’s equipment, though…

Suddenly, a loud whooshing noise filled air along with the smell of gas and Kirby’s mind blanked, being pierced with Mandy’s loud scream. Hanging onto the top bar, he swung around to look down and saw a man - a Townie - laughing hysterically as he dropped matches onto puddles of what looks like gasoline and flames immediately towered towards the ceiling.

“Fuck!” Kirby gasped and his grip slipped off the bar. He yelled as he fell to the ground, blacking out.

He came to, surrounded by fires and a pounding headache slamming his skull. Dizzily, he stood up, yelping at the licking flames and wobbled forward, only to hear a droning creak and a crushing weight suddenly pinned him to the floor.

“Help!” he shouted above the crackling embers. Next thing he knew, a white gas blew towards him and he quickly shut his eyes, feeling the air chill considerably as something gaseous caressed his face and hair and ducked his head.

“Kirby!” a voice alerted him and he gasped, looking to see Jimmy Hopkins quickly dropping a fire extinguisher and kneeling down beside the fallen jock, pinned down by a heavy climbing frame. What rotten luck. “Hang in there!”

“Hurry!” Kirby urged as the weight on his body eased and he pulled himself forward, trying to stand up but fell over as his legs refused to cooperate.

“Kirby! Come on!” Jimmy yelled, picking up the extinguisher, but only to look at the stunned brunette in horror and dropped the object, quickly lifting Kirby into his arms. “Hang on, I’ll take you out!”

Kirby said nothing, numbed into silence as he was carried outside the burning gym in Jimmy’s arms and carefully placed on the bench nearby and charged back inside. A couple of teachers ran over to Kirby, asking him questions, but he blacked out.

…

Kirby woke up in Bullworth General Hospital, groggy and with machines beeping around him, but a familiar face, Ted, lit up as he met his eyes.

“Hey, man,” he whispered, “you scared the shit out of us.”

Kirby raised a hand wordlessly before dropping it. Misunderstanding, Ted hesitantly held it, but chuckled when the brunette shook his head in amusement.

“Right sorry, that was a bit gay - you won’t believe what happened! The gym was burning!”

Kirby nodded. He knows. He remembers.

“Then Juri and Mandy got rescued by Jimmy, thank god they’re both okay…”

‘Yes, thank god indeed,’ Kirby thought with a smile, feeling happy that nobody died.

“Mr Burton thought he was going to get sacked, but thankfully he didn’t. Then we found out that some Townie set fire to the place and now we’re gonna need serious funding to fix the place…” Ted hesitated as Kirby opened his mouth.

“Where’s… Jimmy?” he asked, thinking about his testosterone.

Ted sighed and ran his hand through his hair, looking away. “Jimmy got expelled.”

Kirby’s mouth hung open and his mind blanked. “What?”

“Expelled!” Ted laughed. LAUGHED. “He deserved to be expelled! He did ruin the big game and caused us nothing but trouble--”

“He saved my life!” Kirby yelled angrily, sitting up.

“Uh, yeah, he did…” Ted murmured, shrinking under the glare, “but-”

“NO BUTS!” Kirby barked, startling him, moving the sheets and swung his legs - thank god they’re functional again - to stand up, but a nurse entering the room barked at him to get back into bed.

“You gotta stay, man! They reckon you inhaled fumes!” Ted insisted, holding his teammate’s shoulders.

“No!” Kirby ranted, “Hopkins took something of mine!”

“Miss, you NEED to calm down and stay in bed until the doctor ordered you to!” the nurse jogged up to them. Kirby’s mouth dropped, but it was too late.

Ted rose an eyebrow, “‘Miss’? Nurse lady, I know my bro here is the smallest person we have, but that’s a bit much, isn’t it?”

“Yeah!” Kirby yelped and sat back in the bed, feeling like shrinking and dying in a hole, “that’s too much!” But Ted was looking at his face with a curious frown before his mouth dropped.

“No way…”

“What?!” Kirby snapped, “why are you obsessing over the idea of me being a girl?!”

“Because you ARE one, aren’t you?!” Ted gasped in horror. “Now it makes sense!”

Kirby’s blood ran into overdrive. “I’m NOT a girl!” he protested, but Ted’s starting to grow hysteric, eyes wide and holding his head in one hand.

“That’s why you always go to the showers first!” he blurted, gesturing at him, “and always hiding your chest, and why you didn’t flinch when Johnny kicked you in the nuts because you ain’t got none!”

“Ted, I AM a guy!” he insisted, “you need to trust me! We’re a team, aren’t we?!”

But Ted didn’t answer him straight away, looking even more confused.

“...Gary was right, wasn’t he?” he said quietly. “He said that you had a sex change so that you take part in the football team.”

“HE’S WRONG!” Kirby roared but the nurse spoke up.

“PLEASE refrain yourself!” she demanded, “otherwise I’ll have your visitor removed.”

“No, no, don’t bother,” Ted assured her with a downhearted sigh, “I’ll leave.”

Kirby’s mouth ran dry.

“Ted…!” he bleated, “I AM a guy! Gary talks a lot of crap just to torture people! You’ll only be an idiot if you believe everything he says!” But the leader was walking away and he grew desperate, slipping out of bed but the nurse held his shoulders.

“Miss, PLEASE get back into bed!” she complained, but Kirby is way stronger than her - stronger than every woman he met - and pushed her away making her crash back into the wall with a scream. The brunette ran after Ted in the corridor, seizing his arm but he yanked it away with gritted teeth and… tears?

“Ted! Please believe me!” Kirby begged, “think about it! We won the CHAMPIONSHIP together as a team! It wouldn’t have been possible without me! If you just stop believing me now, Bullworth will never regain glory again! There’s nobody else like me!”

“Sorry, Olsen,” he said shakily, “I WANT to believe you, but Gary--”

“TO HELL WITH GARY!” Kirby screamed.

“GARY SHOWED ME YOUR MEDICINE!” the taller male yelled and blood finally left Kirby’s face as he pointed a finger at him. “Even if I DO believe you, that stuff you’re using is a banned substance and it’s against the rules to dope!” More tears fell. “I can’t have you back in the team, Olsen. Not now that everyone knows that you used testosterone. And that you’re a girl.” Each revelation dropped a brick in the other male’s stomach until it got too much and his knees buckled, heaving and threw up on the floor. Nearby, pounding feet of security ran to Kirby and seized his arms and yanked him upright to drag him back to him room, where the attacked nurse quavered in the spot holding restraint belts in preparation.

…

Kirby was catatonic in the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling while losing the will to live as his ankles and wrists were bound to the bed for the safety of other nurses as well as a gag tied over his mouth - the hospital’s way of stopping him from biting his own tongue, but that’s just stupid. The health clipboard resting on the bedside drawer glared at him with the words ‘Miss Kirby Olsen’ at the top in bold black letters, taunting him about his uncertain future. How the hell did the hospital staff get his title wrong?

“Poor, poor, Kirby!” A voice perked and Kirby glanced lazily at the doorway, focus sharpening his vision at Gary strode inside while wearing a clothespeg on his nose. It did nothing to mute his shit-eating grin. “Lost everything, huh?” His eyes lit up as the restrained guy’s hands clenched and the bed frame rattled and a guttural yell muffled against the belt on his mouth. “You’re not the first person I put away in a hospital, and you won’t be the last.” Gary spoke again, standing by his bed with a snigger. “Because by the end of tomorrow, Hopkins will be the one put away in a prison and I’ll be on top of the school as the new Head Boy.”

Kirby snarled and gnawed his restraint angrily. The bed shook under his shifting weight, but of course the belts did not buckle. Gary placed his hand on the pillow by his head and leaned over him.

“But don’t worry. Nothing bad is going to happen. All that will happen is me fighting Jimmy, while all the other morons at school rage a full-on war in the playground and buildings!”

Kirby watched him, full of absolute fury. His nails bit into his skin and drew blood, but his mind raced. Gary smirked and drew back, tapping his nose secretively.

“I hate the smell of hospitals, because they’re full of careless morons. Looks like you’re one of them, especially now that you’re out the team for good. It WAS my duty to report illegal going-ons within my school as Head Boy, after all. It would be awfully… corrupt of me to not do so while having the knowledge.”

Kirby mumbled something, annoyed with the leathery taste of the restraint rubbing against his tongue. Gary rose his eyebrows and pretended to listen and nod conversationally.

“Yes, you’re right!” he gasped, “while I haven’t found your medication, I still kept hold of the one I found in the dumpster. Of course, it could be anyone's… but Dr Crabblesnitch is not the brightest detective in the world for not checking the name of the actual recipient.” Gary took a vial out of his pocket and showed it to Kirby, and drank in the sight of his eyes widening as he read the label of the bottle’s owner:

Jimmy Hopkins.

“And the funniest thing is…” Gary whispered, turning to leave with a small smile, “Ted didn’t believe me when I told him about you. But the doctors did.”


	9. A Revelation Day

Evening approached, and Kirby is still restrained to the hospital bed completely resigned to his fate. Even if he doesn’t get expelled, he’d still be suspended for… whatever bullshit Gary is going to feed to Dr Crabblesnitch as soon as he sets foot back in Bullworth.

He thought about his mom and dad back home, somewhere far from Bullworth enjoying a peaceful middle-upper class life in the suburbs and their finely-decorated house and immaculate lawns. His mother must be having fun attending her book clubs and tasting wine while his father is surely hitting the books on heroes of American football that he’ll make a quiz out of as soon as he gets home for the holidays. His eyes shut as he recalled the day he hit puberty and it hit him like a sack of bricks that he’ll live in a body he’s not happy with.

_“I don’t want to be a girl!” Kirby yelled, seeing his parent’s eyes widen in shock, “I feel better as a boy!”_

_“Don’t be ridiculous, Kirby!” his mother chided, still holding the wrapper for the sanitary pad that she was about to throw away, “it’s natural to have periods and you can get these feelings during them, but as soon as the week is over you’ll feel much better again.”_

_“But I’ll get them EVERY month!” Kirby snapped, cheeks wet with tears, “I don’t want that, it feels gross and I hate these stupid breasts!”_

_“You’ll grow used to them!” his mother bleated, “how about I take you bra-shopping later as treat?”_

_“Get me a binder instead!” their young one demanded, “I saw on the internet that they can really flatten the chest and make you look more like a boy!”_

_“You don’t need that! You just need a bra that fits well!” she argued, “I used to dress up as a boy for fun when I was a little girl, but I didn’t tell my mother that I’m a boy! It was just a phase, and you’ll grow out of this one!”_

_“IT’S NOT A PHASE!” Kirby screamed, “the only phase I’m seeing is everyone pretending that your highlights look good when they look ugly on you!” His mother paled and gasped. “I just want to be a boy! I don’t want to be a serial killer or something, I just want to feel happy with my body and you WILL accept it whether you like it or not!”_

_“KIRBY!”_

_“Clarice, that’s enough,” Kirby’s father spoke up quietly but his wife was almost hysterical quivering in disbelief. In her eyes, her ‘daughter’ died and a boy grew in her place. A stranger. “I know this is hard for you, and it’s strange to me too, but if Kirby’s not happy with what she is, then we should support her however she wants us to.”_

_“‘He,’” Kirby murmured and his father nodded but his mother let out a sob before storming out the room. Kirby Olsen, 11 years old, stood there on the brink of tears at seeing his mother react negatively, possibly now waiting to be lectured by his father for upsetting her. “I’m not in the mood to be lectured.”_

_“No, but you’re getting one anyway,” his father sighed and sat on the sofa, patting the spot beside him where his progeny sat down silently. “Is this because I brought you up on masculine sports?”_

_“No…” Kirby mumbled, but then nodded. “I want to be in a football team one day, but there’s barely any girls teams.” His head dropped. “Plus… I always feel left out at school by other girls. I just don’t like brushing my hair or talk about guys or getting into makeup. Those are boring things.” Mr Olsen looked at the choppy hairstyle that Kirby tried to do himself with a pair of scissors, hair sticking out all over the place. Kirby’s eyes lit up. “But the boys ALWAYS let me play games with them and even during breaks the teachers would stop me from roughhousing, but then we’d still carry on playing football and they said that I’ll be the best wide receiver for a team! Even my gym teacher said so and said I should apply for a scholarship!”_

_“Good for you, sport!” Mr Olsen laughed before he smiled sadly. “Listen though, your mother is just sad because she’s always seen you as a girly-girl… but we know that’s rubbish.” Kirby giggled. “The thing is, if you’re absolutely sure that you want to be raised as a boy during your teenage years, then go for it. Even if you decide in your adulthood that it’s just not for you, then hey, at least you found out more things about yourself. Too many people give up opportunities to better themselves just because of what other people say about them, but you, Kirby, are someone who is going to be high in the world someday. You may even become an All-Star player someday and your name will shine in the stars.” Kirby stared at him in amazement before nodding wordlessly._

_“What was your dream?” he asked._

_“Well…” his father scratched his head before smiling, “it’s to run a sports apparel store, marry a beautiful woman and have a kid with who I can play sports with after work.”_

_Kirby grinned brightly and asked; “Did your dream come true?”_

_Mr Olsen guffawed and ruffled his hair and they both laughed._

Kirby laughed softly to himself at the memory. Eventually after that his father discovered that a scholarship was available and it was awarded to Kirby. The catch was, he’d have to study at Bullworth Academy in order to have his education paid for. His mother was horrified, knowing about the reputation of the Academy, but his father cheered and held a big party at the sports store he is the manager of, telling everyone that his son made it into a prestigious academy with a scholarship and will be living on campus. Of course, Kirby had his father write down ‘male’ on the application form, but that’s what he is and how he feels.

He sighed and relaxed. And now everything is falling apart, and his parents will be coming to the hospital in a few hours to discharge him. For some reason, the doctor couldn’t contact Bullworth Academy so he went for the next-of-kin instead. This is officially his worst day ever.

“Psst! Kirby!” someone snuck into the room and the brunette frowned, glancing over and his eyes widened in shock. It was Davis White, followed by Ethan Robinson, both boys from the same clique as Trent. They shut the door behind them and Ethan took a pocketknife from his pocket, running to Kirby and cut the belt from around Kirby’s mouth, making him gasp and lick his lips dryly.

“Thank fuck!” he breathed. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Trent flipped out, man!” Davis said quickly, “when he heard that the gym burned and that you were inside, he almost beat the shit out of Mr Burton for not going in there to save you! Then we figured that if we break you out, he’ll calm down again!”

“But haven't you heard about me?” Kirby said quietly in defeat. “I might be expelled soon.”

“Fuck that shit!” Ethan snapped and cut the belts around his ankles and wrists, “Trent loves you! He’ll NEVER let you leave! That guy is the biggest drama queen I know, but I know that he is most honest about his feelings when it comes to you!” Kirby sat up, rubbing his sore wrists.

“If this is about you being… uh, a former girl, then just forget about it!” Davis babbled, “we gotta run back to Bullworth! I got a bad feeling that something’s going to happen!”

“And Jimmy’s been expelled and he disappeared, so we’ll need as many men as possible for whatever the other cliques are up to!” Ethan added.

“Ted kicked me out the team!” Kirby argued.

“Even if you’re no longer one of the jocks, there’s always a place for you with us,” Davis said strangely, “people like us have no place being nobodies or in any other clique, but with Russell we’re where we’re comfortable the most…” His eyes moistened and he quickly wiped them. “Sorry, I got emotional problems from being bullied by an older cousin…”

“So come on, Kirby!” Ethan demanded, turning to Kirby. “If you won’t come back to Bullworth for yourself, then at least come there for Trent! He’ll be in the principal's office right now being told that he’s suspended or worse!”

Trent. His warm smile filled Kirby’s mind, his soul and his heart as well as memories over the few months of them together. Yeah, he’s the biggest idiot he knows, but he’s the kindest person in his life, even when he does steal some of his secret chocolate treats and denies it (only to have his spots give him away, much to his horror and Kirby’s amusement). It’s then that the brunette realised that even if he does lose his scholarship, he’ll just stay at school, keep his head low and study… because as long as he’s got Trent, he’ll graduate without any remorse. He’ll even take part-time jobs to pay for his education.

“Let’s go,” he said and grunted as he took a couple of steps, feeling stiff at being restrained for so long. The two guys shot him a look, but he gave them a dismissive wave. “I’m okay! Let’s bust out!” Luckily Kirby was still wearing his school uniform so they just waltzed past the doctors and nurses, but when they reached the entrance they heard Kirby’s doctor shout for him to stop and the three broke into a run.

They stopped at the bus stop, panting heavily as they waited for the school bus to arrive. Kirby turned to Davis and Ethan.

“Thanks for helping me,” he said and they offered him tired thumbs-up. He decided that the Bullies aren’t so bad, after all.

* * *

 

“Okay… now what?” Davis uttered in shock as the two looked at the locked school gates. It’s daylight, but something is up. Ahead of them, students of different cliques are fighting each other with different usual weapons. No girls or prefects are seen, however, which only prolonged the fights among shouting students. Overhead, grey clouds formed an overcast shadow of this corner of New England, breaking the dawn.

Kirby frowned, shaking the gates, but growled in annoyance as they refused to budge.

“How the hell are we going to get in there?!” Davis whined, holding his hand out at the gate. “We need to help Trent! Russell disappeared as well and we can’t find him!”

“Get a hold of yourself!” Ethan scolded him, looking at the brick wall. “We can just ninja-climb over the wall!”

But Kirby remembered something and snapped his fingers, dashing off down the path towards the bridge. The guys looked at each other in confusion, but bolted after him, yelling for him to wait. Suddenly Kirby climbed over the side of the bridge and they yelled until they saw his head pop up again and he gestured for them to follow him. After climbing over the wall, their feet touched hard ground and followed after Kirby alongside the tall brick wall which separated the long driveway from outside campus grounds.

“How’d you find this place?” Ethan asked, impressed.

“Trent showed it me,” Kirby said, except he sounded proud of his partner. “Last Halloween, we snuck out to go into town and he showed me this secret exit he made.”

“Sweet!” Davis chuckled, “now I know how to sneak out…”

They reached the fencing where, of course, the opening was obscured by foliage of a bush nearby. Kirby moved it, crawled through it and emerged to see chaos in the parking lot. Some nerds have gathered, firing bottle rockets at incoming jocks but with very little effect. Kirby saw Dan and his heart leapt but he paid him no attention as he wrestled Thad to the ground. Thad cried for his brother to stop, but he still held him down and kicked him in the nuts.

“Dan!” Kirby shouted, but Ethan grabbed his arm.

“Come on! We gotta go to the principal’s office!”

Kirby’s eyes boggled and he wildly gestured at the surroundings. “Are you BLIND?! There’s a riot going on! Crabblesnitch is NOT going to be in his office, he’ll be out here stopping students!”

“In that case, where is he?!” Davis cried, “the teachers are gone too!” Kirby groaned loudly.

“I’ll go find Trent myself!” he snapped, “and you guys try and stop the fighting!” Then he took off as their complaints died in the noise of screaming fireworks and smashing stink bombs. He ran towards the path leading to the Bullworth Bull statue, but then he stopped as his eyes caught the garages, idea forming in his mind.

* * *

 

In spite of the full-scale riot going on, windows being broken and graffiti staining the bricks around the school, Kirby ignored all that with Trent in his mind. The football team is not for him. Ted said so. He’s out the team. Yet, even though that thought weighed heavily on him, he still has a reason to stay in Bullworth. It’s because of Trent, his best friend and partner.

The scooter he’s driving - his and Trent’s - beeped loudly to warn other students of the vehicle, but it’s seriously dangerous. If he runs someone over, he could injure someone or worse. But then again, where is Trent?

“Trent!” he shouted as he braked the scooter beside the fountain of the Bullworth Bull, using it as a vantage point to look around. The Greasers and Preps were having a whale of a time fighting with improvised weapons like tools and chairs, as some of their projectiles almost hit the brunette and he ducked. He felt tempted to dive into a random fight, but now’s not the time. He took off towards the library, finding Algernon firing a potato gun at incoming attackers. Kirby cursed and drove right towards him.

The nerd frowned, adjusting his glasses before realising that someone is driving right at him at 50mph and he screamed so loud that the folks at the Carnival could hear him.

Kirby suddenly braked the vehicle and swerved it, glaring at the nerd before the slowing bike hit him and knocked him back onto the grass and banged against the wall, disarming him. The former jock hopped off the scooter and seized Algernon’s shirt with a snarl.

“Where is Trent?!” he demanded, “tell me or I’ll break your legs!”

“I don’t know!” he wheezed, “the last I saw him, he attacked Mr Burton and he was marched to the Principal’s office!”

“And what the HELL is going on?!” Kirby yelled, waving at the fighting students chasing each other with baseball bats.

“It’s Gary Smith!” the nerd cried, “he started telling people different stuff to get them to fight, and the prefects were instructed to stay indoors to guard the kids, girls and teachers in the Staff Room!”

The staff room. Of course!

He let go of Algernon’s shirt and quickly ran back onto his bike, but then the intercom systems crackled into life.

“Your attention please: Jimmy is complete human trash!” Gary’s voice announced gleefully before the systems turned off. Light rain started to fall and splatter onto Kirby’s face as he drew his eyes away from one of the intercoms. Jimmy? Jimmy returned to Bullworth?

‘In that case, I can leave him to Gary and I’ll find Trent!’ he thought to himself as he saddled the scooter, revving it up. ‘I’m coming, Trent! Hang in there!’

He quickly drove down the steps, past students and screeching in front of the medical room door and ran to the double doors and entered, seeing three guys from the bullies clique lying on the ground and groaning. Among them, Trent whined while holding his arm, but his moans petered out and his eyes brightened as he met Kirby’s. They both cried out each others names and sprung towards each other, falling into their arms for a right embrace.

“Kirby! Oh god, Kirby!” Trent cried, clenching his hands and bunching Kirby’s shirt fabric in them as if letting go will make him disappear. “I thought you were gone for good!”

“I thought you were gone!” Kirby gasped and looked at him, and both shared a brief kiss. They parted, holding each other’s faces. “Fucking hell, Trent, just…” he trailed off, pointing at the double doors. “What the hell is going on?!”

“It’s Gary’s fault!” Trent’s face twisted to a snarl, “he spread some rumours around and people started fighting and dragging their cliques into it!” Kirby noticed his bruised eye and he laughed coldly. “I did get into a fight, but that’s only because I wanted to get out and find you in the hospital, but Gary got those prefect bastards to lock the gates!”

“At least you’re safe!” Kirby breathed. “Mostly. Hey, Davis and Ethan broke me out the hospital because they tied me down!”

Trent grinned brightly and kissed his forehead. “I’m making BOTH of them my Best Men for our future wedding!” and Kirby flushed, opening his mouth to argue, but the moans from the other two bullies interrupted them.

“Glad we helped ya,” Davis smiled painfully as he sat up. Ethan, next to him, gave him a thumbs-up.

“You shoulda stayed with us, but that Townie freak beat all three of us!” the ninja-enthusiast complained. “So at least YOU’RE safe!”

“Thanks, guys,” Kirby sighed and leaned against Trent, hugging him again. “Seriously. I’ll miss being a Jock, but at least you guys are just as cool as me.” They all laughed before they heard a sudden smashing noise upstairs in the principal’s office and they glanced up the stairs.

“You reckon that Townie is trying to destroy stuff?” Davis said nervously and Trent wrapped his arm tighter around Kirby’s waist.

“Come on, we’re going to the staff room and hide out until this mess is over,” he said and the other guys agreed, walking together to the safety of the staff room, where the door opened with Mr Galloway holding a baseball bat, but gasped as he saw their injuries and allowed the 4 young men inside immediately for treatment by Ms Phillips.

The staff room is full of other students who are not in any cliques as well as all the girls. Angie and Christy were cuddled together on the sofa holding hands while the kids murmured to each other on war tactics if the door gets breached. Kirby sat at the sofa, not caring if anyone sees him sitting on Trent’s lap with his head buried in his neck as he stared at the empty fireplace. All he wanted to do is sleep after the longest day in his life while worrying about his future in Bullworth, but Trent’s hand on his gave him the reassurance he needed to convince his parents to pay for him to stay in Bullworth. It may not be the best place ever, but it’s home.

* * *

 

Soon, the riot at Bullworth Academy has come to an end. Several students witnessed the mighty downfall of the Head Boy Gary Smith as he is carted into the back of a van by Happy Volts Asylum orderlies. Everyone celebrated until Dr Crabblesnitch has issued the following statement to the entirety of the school from the front doors to the masses gathered near the front entrance.

“For the next week, I will cancelling classes.”

Everyone erupted into cheers before he smirked and carried on.

“However, because the school spirit has gone out of hand - WAY out of hand - I will allocate class time dedicated to cleaning up the mess that everybody has caused, whether or not you’ve done it.”

Ripples of groans echoed and complaints sounded, but he ignored them.

“But… let this be a lesson to everybody that if there’s a mess, then it should be cleaned up. Because a mess left untouched is a mess that will affect someone else, such as innocent bystanders. For too long, we have had many of you make messes and not take responsibility for them, so next week starting tomorrow will be dedicated for a long overdue Spring clean!”

So with that, all the students got into the cleaning week wearing gloves, carrying disinfectants and brushes and dusters. The teachers were given groups of students to work with according to the classes that they have with them, so soon enough, you have Preps complaining about doing menial cleaning work. Even bribing their teachers hasn’t worked this time, so you have Derby Harrington moaning while scrubbing paintings of cocks off the Bullworth Bull, watched on by laughing Greasers who have already finished cleaning the auto-shops.

In the burnt Gym, Kirby wiped his forehead as he was suspended from the ceiling with a rope around his waist, held up by Trent as he watched him wash soot off the wall. The smoke from the fire days ago severely blackened the walls, but with him and other students cleaning the walls, they soon sparkled with wax and polish, such as his section of the wall as he gave Trent a thumbs-up as a signal to lower him down and he carefully did. The second Kirby touched the ground, Trent smiled and patted his back.

“You should go into mountain climbing,” he suggested, “I’m pretty scared of heights.”

“Nah, I’d rather climb the bars, once they replace ‘em,” the brunette said and dipped the sponge in the bucket. He sighed heavily. “I can’t wait to get this cleaning over with.”

“How’re your parents?” Trent suddenly asked and Kirby grimaced.

“I’ll tell you later. But I gotta meet Jimmy in the clubhouse in a bit.”

After the fight at the belltower, Jimmy met Kirby to have a quick word, telling him that he hid Kirby’s box somewhere more secretive after he saw one of the younger kids peeping through the window when he showed Kirby the hiding place. Kirby almost cried and thanked him.

Sure enough, Jimmy saw Kirby enter and he opened the box that the mattress is balanced on, revealing the box. The brunette sighed in relief and opened it, getting a vial out and a needle. He sat on the bed, injected, as Jimmy watched until he remembered something.

“Gary…” Kirby began and looked at Jimmy. “He had one of your vials. It had your name on it.”

“I don’t take testosterone.” Jimmy laughed at his stunned expression. “Truth is, I was a uh… herma… her… whatever it’s called - I got both male and female parts, but I just look more like a guy so I rolled with it.”

“B-but then why did Gary have a vial with YOUR name on it?!” Kirby spluttered, confused.

“Oh yeah…” Jimmy wondered, “you know what he’s like - if he still had your glass, he could easily just write my name on it to get a reaction out of you.” Then Kirby relaxed in realisation.

“Oh… That’s true,” he muttered and started putting his things away when the door opened and Ted walked inside flanked by Casey, Damon and Dan, and the rest of the football squad looking at the two of them awkwardly as they sat on the bed together.

Nobody spoke for a few tense-filled seconds until Jimmy spoke up.

“What’s up, Ted?” he asked casually and the leader rubbed his own head, looking… nervous?

“I wanna talk to Kirby,” he mumbled, “we all want to talk with him.”

Jimmy rose and eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Promise me that you won’t beat him up?”

“I promise,” Ted grunted and walked, stopping short a metre away from Kirby. “Listen, uh… I was thinking about what I said at the hospital, and what Gary’s done when everything went to shit during the riot, and… y’see…” He stumbled over his words, finding it difficult to speak, Kirby stared at him, standing up. Dan groaned in impatience and suddenly ran to his side, pleading.

“Come back to the team! We need you!”

“Dan!” Damon snapped, but Ted nodded regretfully and stepped towards the brunette, holding his shoulders.

“We’re sorry. I’m sorry. You’re one of us, and you’re the best wide receiver in a century. But most of all…” Under Jimmy’s watchful eye, he inhaled. “I’m sorry for calling you a girl. You’re everything but a girl. You’re Kirby Olsen, a star of the Bullworth Bulls and a future All-Star for America. Will you come back and train with us?”

Kirby looked at each face of the hopeful team, feeling his eyes sting as he remembered the fondest and worst memories of his time on the team. The hazing was horrific and damn these people may be jerks, but--

They’re his family.

Kirby dove to hug Ted and he froze, stunned, until he heard him say with a muffle; “I’m back, bitches.” and everybody roared before diving on top of the pair for a large dogpile in the middle of the clubhouse, all laughing and bellowing and wriggling. Jimmy laughed to himself as they disassembled and gave Kirby hearty shoves and pats on his back, congratulating him.

“Welcome back, Kirby!” Ted announced loudly and the Bulls cheered loudly.

As the bell rang and they left the clubhouse, Dan stopped Kirby, giving him a hesitant look before hugging him awkwardly. Kirby frowned, wondering about his stiff actions.

“What’s up with you?” he joked, “I’m not going to report you for sexual harassment.”

Dan laughed into his shoulder and parted. “I know. It’s just that… there’s still rumours about you.” Kirby nodded grimly. “But no matter what, I’ll beat up EVERY person who crosses you!”

Kirby hugged him tightly. “Thanks, Dan.”

Jimmy watched, hearing their conversation before coming up with a great idea and he left to run to the Library.

* * *

Days passed and with funding from the families of the preppies, the windows have all been replaced and the school grounds are picture-perfect once more as the last few bits of litter were picked. Classes finally resumed with extra time slots for more studying to help students catch up with missed schoolwork, so Kirby and Trent were busy in the library most of the time revising for upcoming exams. Although the gym classes are still cut for this period of time, Kirby felt strangely content unwinding with all this extra free time. It may not have stopped him from jogging into town every early morning before classes, but it keeps him from losing his mind. While not everything is going according to keikaku, life goes on and life at Bullworth will get easier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translator's notes: 'Keikaku' means 'Plan'
> 
> :D


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for implied sex in this chapter... finally. :D

Gym class has ended and Kirby panted as he finished jogging, high-fiving Dan as they walked to the changing rooms, laughing and joking about the nerds. Ever since Jimmy restored order to the school and is crowned king once more, the cliques have been more relaxed towards each other despite rivalries still running high, which are taken out on each other during races rather than open fights. The preps take great joy in bike races against the greasers, the nerds love regular chess tournaments with non-clique students and the jocks are… just being jocks, taking on everyone else in dodgeball. So far, they’re top of Bullworth’s league table for the sport, which is now overseen by their new Gym teacher, Ms Eclaire, a replacement for Mr Burton who was apparently sacked for being creepy to female students. Of course, the loss of him was a blow to the jocks but they quickly got over him after learning that their new teacher turns a deliberate blind eye to alcohol - but draws the line at performance-enhancing drugs. Kirby worried since he still takes testosterone, but Ms Eclaire granted him an exception after learning about him through all the rumours about his gender. Kirby decided that she is his favourite teacher.

Soon, the end of the academic year approached and examinations are growing more frequent. With this, more classes have been cut in favour of adding more study groups due to the disruption from the school riot and the property damage, with gym classes suffering the heaviest blow as there’s one per week now rather than 4. The nerds were overjoyed, now only suffering from 1 day of ‘accidental’ dodgeballs to the face instead of 4. As much as Kirby loves his team, they’re the most easily-distracted people he’s ever seen. And not very bright too. He isn’t, either, but at least he gets to study with Trent in the library together in the far corner at least once a day. When Trent isn’t rubbing their thighs together or toying with his pen in his mouth seductively, they managed to retain SOME information about upcoming papers. After their latest study session, they left the library sighing in relief from finishing an hour of studying mathematical equations.

“I hate maths…” Kirby muttered, swinging his bag over his shoulder, “the only bit of maths I want to learn are scores in matches.” Trent nodded before grinning and giving him a finger-gun.

“My favourite equation is you plus me equals love.”

Kirby deadpanned, still walking on slowly like a zombie losing the will to live. Trent chuckled and threw his arm around his shoulders, happy that he no longer panics about being touched by his… boyfriend… in public. Instead, Kirby leaned against him as they walked and his heart almost leapt to his mouth in delight. Testing the waters, he kissed Kirby’s head just as Christy and Angie walked nearby and they squealed in delight, holding each other’s hands and giggling. Kirby flushed red from head to toe, but said nothing as they carried on walking until they’re at the boys dorm where they parted to walk up the steps safely. As they entered, Ted was just leaving with Damon in tow, saying nothing but glancing at Trent and giving him a wink. Kirby raised an eyebrow, but said nothing until they stopped by his dorm room.

“Well…” he sighed again, “I better get an early night.”

“Ah! Yeah, me too…” Trent laughed, lingering about like he’s about to say something else, “goodnight, Kirb.” And like many other times before he leaned in and kissed his cheek before turning to go to his room. Kirby frowned and ran after him.

“Wait. You got somethin’ on your mind.”

Trent froze, laughing lightly. “Well, it’s nothing, it’s just that… y’know…”

The brunette examined his nervous expression suspiciously and crossed his arms. “What?”

Trent inhaled. “I won’t lie, but there’s a surprise for you and everyone is in on it. But PLEASE don’t let on that I told you!” he pleaded and Kirby grinned.

“Thanks, babe, now I won’t be able to sleep at night,” he joked and began to walk away, “goodnight, Trent.” The blonde smiled happily until his door closed and he practically skipped to his own room.

* * *

Next morning was a Saturday, so thankfully no classes. The school will still be open for revision sessions, but just for today Kirby decided to take it easy. Thus, he got up early as usual, dressed up and left to go jogging into Bullworth Town, looping towards the Vale. As soon as he reached the bridge he took a pause to admire the Bullworth Dam’s size. With a nervous thought he imagined what would happen if the dam was to suddenly burst before shrugging it off and ran through the upscale neighbourhoods. Annoying dogs barked at him as he kept an eye out for any preps with eggs as well as overzealous postmen accusing young kids of stealing their jobs. He kept running, running, running until he found himself standing outside Bullworth Church, freezing in his steps as he stared up at the gloomy building. It may be Summer, but the atmosphere surrounding the church grounds crept up his veins with a haunting Wintry chill. Call it paranoia, but he feels that someone is watching him. He turned and hightailed it the fuck out of there, not realising that there’s a non-clique kid crying at one of the graves.

Soon, Kirby made it to the beachside walk and leaned back against the fence to even his breathing as he waited for the school bus. 7’0’clock soon approached on the clocks and people started waking up for a new day with shop shutters stuttering open. At the same time, a bus arrived and he hopped on along with other students living off-campus and are all soon transported to school.

Kirby planned on going to practice, but the second he entered the clubhouse all of his team stood there, trying to hold back snickers. He rose an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

“Wassup, guys?” he greeted them. Ted chuckled and held out a piece of paper, which Kirby accepted and he read it. It’s his admission form for when he first went to school. Confused, he looked at them again and Ted pointed at the ‘gender’ section where he is listed as male. “Yeah, I know I’m a guy, but what’s this about?”

“You see…” Ted began, “everybody pretty much knows about you already. But the problem is that if we go to an inter-school tournament, some smartass might decide to dig up any ‘scandals’ about our players to discredit us.” Dan could barely contain his excitement and spoke up quickly.

“We got the nerds to create concrete evidence that you were born a guy!”

“Dan!” Ted snapped with a groan, “I wanted to tell him that!”

“How?!” Kirby gasped, surprised, “it’s not like you took my passport or anything!”

“We did,” Dan said smugly and Damon cuffed him around the head. “Ouch!”

“We did,” Ted sighed, irritated with the interruptions before lighting up. “Not really, we just created a perfect duplicate of your passport so that if any dickheads sneak a peek, they won’t find nothing.”

“And something else too,” Damon said lightly and it was then that the other guys almost lost it and contained their laughs, eyes watering. “We made a dick for you!”

Finally, the other team members lost it and started bellowing in laughter. Kirby just watched them, growing even more confused than his Kirby-brain could handle.

“What?” he said blankly. The guys were laughing too much to even speak. Dan stood up straight, chuckles lacing his tone of voice.

“If any peeping tom want to come into the showers to take pics of us, then you’ll be wearing a fake d-d-dick!” And he dissolved into giggles again.

“...WHAT THE FUCK?!” Kirby finally burst, eyes huge, and his team collapsed, near tears. “WHY?!”

“We just told you!” Juri gasped out, wiping his eyes, “we got you a cock modelled after…” He wheezed into laughter again. “JIMMY’S.”

“OH HELL NO!” Kirby said in horror, backing up, “I am NOT wearing a fake dick! What if it chafes?!” Ted burped and laughed at the same time, making his comrades cry out in mock disgust, totally distracted. The brunette raised his hands and turned. “I’m outta here.”

“Come on, it’s not LITERALLY a fake dick!” Dan called after him, holding out a box as he ran to his side, “if you wear a pair of boxers, you can slip this into the front pouch so that you’ll look like you have a big dick hiding away.” Kirby stopped and accepted the box, but remembered back when he was being hazed that he was given a jack-in-the-box with a dildo strapped to it and pushed it back to Dan.

“I swear, if it’s another dick-in-a-box--!”

“It’s not! Trust me!” Dan snorted and Kirby decided to bite the dildo-shaped bullet and opened the box.

Thank god it’s just a plastic lump with a curved underside. He sighed in relief and his teammates finally calmed the fuck down and regained their breaths.

“We borrowed the nerd’s 3D printer while they made your fake passport,” Dan explained, not making eye contact with him and the other coughed inconspicuously, trying to look like that they didn’t fuck around with an expensive piece of machinery, “it took a few tries, but we eventually got this one printed out.”

Kirby looked at him; “Nobody tried this on, have they?” Dan shook his head and he pursed his lips. “Okay… gimma sec while I try it on, but wait outside!”

Obliging with snorts and sniggers, his team left. Quickly, but curiously, Kirby tugged the band of his sports shorts down a bit, opened his boxers and inhaled, hoping with all of his heart that he’ll look good

Moments later, he stepped outside with a big grin and his team stopped talking to look at him.

“Thanks a bunch, guys! It fits perfectly!” he exclaimed before running away before one of the guys could kick him in the (fake) nuts as a test.

* * *

Kirby received a letter in the main office later that day, and when he opened it in his dormitory in front of Trent, a passport slipped out. He opened it eagerly and saw that nothing changed apart from his gender, which is now listed as male. He whooped and hugged Trent tightly, almost winding him.

“You commissioned the nerds, didn’t you?” he whispered in his ear and felt the blonde nod.

“I told the Jocks about it and they agreed it’s the best idea,” Trent said, hugging him back when he felt something hard against his thigh and he grinned. “They weren’t kidding about your dick.”

“No, they haven’t,” Kirby mumbled, going red. “But one day, I won’t need to wear it. I’ll have the money to get a real one.”

“From becoming a famous football star,” Trent added and felt him nod before pulling away, looking into his eyes and still holding his hands. The blonde smiled brightly. “And you’ll be married to a famous theatre actor too, so your future is pretty much set.” Kirby choked on his spit and backed up, growing even redder.

“I-it’s too soon to talk about THAT!” he ranted, but Trent’s face clearly showed that yes, he is daydreaming about himself being married to Kirby. Kirby shoved his shoulder with a grunt before falling face-down on his bed, grumbling to himself about ‘lovestruck idiots.’

The mattress shifted as added weight moved onto it and Kirby felt Trent lying on top of him, wrapping his arms around his waist and kissed his head.

“I’m happy that we’re together,” he murmured into his hair, “life’s so good, I don’t ever want it to change.”

“Mmmnmm…” Kirby mumbled.

Trent moved off him as he noticed another letter by the lamp, which has been opened, and curiously reached out but Kirby snatched it out of his reach, turning away silently and dropped it in the bin.

“Mom didn’t take me seriously when I told her that I’m a guy,” he said lowly, not looking at his boyfriend. “Dad only recently told me over the phone that she’s been diagnosed with depression. She had a crappy childhood and always fantasised about being married, having a kid, owning a dog and cat and a picket fence and all that bullshit. Three of those things weren’t possible.” Trent stared at him in growing shock, shifting his body to sit beside him more comfortably. “Dad is allergic to cats AND dogs… and she no longer considers me her kid.” Trent felt his heart drop. “I should’ve known that she’d follow through her stupid threats, but it was only because that stupid gossiping nurse told her about my outburst with Ted. She wrote a pretty long letter showing her disgust, so I guess I should hate her, but…” Kirby shut his eyes, hands shaking. “I still love my mom. Why does SHE have it make it all about my gender? Can’t she remember how much fun we had when I lived back home? Playing in the park, baking, reading… didn’t any of those things matter? Did she just care more about wh-what people think of her?”

Trent shut his eyes too and embraced him tightly. Kirby stiffened, but didn’t hug him back, but didn’t deny him the contact either.

“I’m sick of worrying about her,” Kirby muffled into his shirt, “from day 1, I kept thinking what she thinks about me. I never thought about it because it’s always there in my head but with all this shit that was going on I never paid attention.”

“What about your dad?” Trent asked.

“He’s fine with me, he’s always wanted a son,” Kirby sighed, “but now it looks like they’re going to divorce. At least, that’s what mom’s implying in her letter.”

“Sorry to hear that,” the blonde muttered.

“At least I won’t be home when they sign the papers,” Kirby broke the hug, “I’ll just stay here over the summer break. There won’t be many people about, but at least the cinema tickets are cheap in Bullworth with all these crappy old movie re-runs.” Trent gave him a small smile.

“I’ll stay too. I need to brush up on my maths and photography. And…” he reached up to brush back Kirby’s fringe, saying; “we’ll go on a real date.” before kissing his forehead.

“Yeah,” Kirby breathed. “Where at? The carnival again?” Trent snorted.

“Not after I committed an act of terrorism against the rifle range’s greed. No, somewhere more romantic.”

“You mean somewhere else that isn’t Bullworth?”

“Bingo. We could go on a road trip.”

“You’re insane,” Kirby shook his head, but felt intrigued. “It’s not as if we can drive all the way to California or something.”

“I wish,” Trent sighed dreamily, “I wanna be in Hollywood someday. But no. We could just drive around without a map, stay at motels, eat different food and take photos of everywhere we go.”

“That sounds nice, but what about money?”

“Ah… Yeah…” the blonde murmured lightly, “but hopefully I’ll hear back from that commercial agency someday! Any time now, I’ll get a letter begging me to come in and be a model!” Kirby grinned and kicked his shoes off.

“Even if you don’t, it won’t matter. As long as I get to play sports, then everything’ll be dandy. We have an endless summer ahead of us.”

Trent watched as Kirby tugged his socks off as well as his shirt.

“What’re you doing?”

Kirby paused, staring at him. “I’m gonna hit the hay. You wanna sleep over?”

To his amusement, Trent quickly undressed himself until he’s just wearing his school shirt and boxers. He never cares about it getting wrinkled anyway. This time is no different just as Kirby settled under the sheets and Trent pulled him in for an embrace, kissing him as he rolled on top of him, knees on either side of his waist. Breathless, they parted and Kirby put his hand on his chest, looking at him with a grin. Trent also smirked and pecked his cheek, holding the side of his face.

“So… sleeping, huh?” Trent teased.

“Yup, a full night’s uninterrupted sleep,” Kirby said, trying not to laugh. “A full 8 hour sleep.” He shut his eyes when Trent tilted his head and leaned down to kiss his neck, lightly sucking it. “Uninterrupted…” The blonde adored how his throat moved against his lips as he spoke, but felt the brunette’s arms weakly wrap around his waist as their hips ground together. Moans breathed against his throat and he knew just how aroused his boyfriend is.

Trent moved away from Kirby’s neck and rested his forehead on his, cheeks flushed. Kirby could feel his heat as their noses touched.

“How’re we gonna do this, then…?” he said unsurely. Kirby understood what he meant.

“Well…” he murmured, “as much as I wanna hit a home run… I was thinking maybe later…”

“Yeah, good idea,” Trent agreed and kissed his cheek. “I guess sex is off the table until we’re legal.” Kirby snorted.

“Never stopped me.”

“Copping a feel and making out with Mandy doesn’t count as sex, Kirb,” Trent grinned and moved to lie on his side, hugging him more comfortably. “You’re just so cute.” The brunette huffed indignantly and buried his face in his chest.

“I’m not cute, I’m manly.”

“Yes, you are,” Trent kissed his head. “You can even lift me.”

“Heck yeah…”

“And most of all… You’re a brilliant guy, Kirby. You deserve so much.”

Kirby never really understood why he’s being showered with so many praises. It feels as foreign to him as the hand rubbing past the band of his underwear and teasing his inner thigh. He muffled his moans into his chest, clinging to his shirt for dear life while his legs trembled.

If both of them are being honest here, they weren’t each other’s first to sexually play around with. It’s known that Trent is very open about his sexuality and has been seen hanging out with a few girls, and who HASN’T been felt up by Mandy? But together, things felt different, exciting, natural…

Sleep be damned - the couple began to kiss again, hands touching everywhere and more clothes being shed until they wore only their boxers. He kissed Kirby’s chest, his scars, nipples, navel… The brunette grunted and quickly moved, kissing him hard on the lips.

It may be because school has been more relaxed or the fact that Summer is closing in, but things have been running smoothly without disturbances being caused by the clique’s rivalries and Gary Smith stirring trouble. Kirby hopes all his lucky stars that things will remain constant until he graduates. And that he and Trent will remain in these entangled embraces exchanging hot breaths and secrets.

“Hey, Trent?” Kirby murmured, an hour after they settled together from their highs. The street lights outside still glowered through the pathetically limp fabric hanging on the window.

“Mm?” he heard him mumble against his hair.

“Weird question, but… why me and not anyone else?”

He expected Trent to grumble something about ‘an obvious answer’ but instead he kissed his forehead.

“Because they’re not you.”

Kirby nodded slowly and relaxed, turning to dreams of becoming world-famous.

* * *

 

Soon, the end of the academic year approached and cars parked outside the Academy and in the car park for students to be picked up by families. Trent’s family live in the town and insisted that he comes back so that they can make sure he studies, but he’s reluctant to leave Kirby alone at school as he hugged him from behind, whining in front of the whole school and parents.

“I don’t want to leave you!” he whined as Kirby desperately tried to pry him off, “we just got engaged! Why are you leaving me now?”

“I’m NOT leaving you!” the brunette yelled and his jock friends chuckled and snapped some photos. “Hey! Destroy those photos!” Trent took advantage of his momentary distraction and kissed his cheek, making some girls squeal and a couple of older people shake their heads. “TRENT. GET OFF OR I’LL CASTRATE YOU!” Trent kissed his neck and that snapped a nerve. Kirby suddenly kneeled, seizing Trent’s arm and threw him over his shoulder and onto the grass. Trent screamed at the impact and everyone laughed.

“Babe! Why?” Trent cried and moved to his knees, “how could you do this to me?!”

“I’ll visit you every week!” Kirby ranted hotly, “now go to your parents! Don’t you have any letters to wait for?” Conflict crossed Trent’s face and he went to talk, but then he noticed his father standing by his car with is arms crossed impatiently and he sighed, standing up to look at Kirby.

“Kirby… you know my address.”

“Yeah.”

“And phone number?”

“Yup.”

“Great,” he sighed happily, “...can I kiss you?”

Kirby was about to say no, but realisation dawned on him that he won’t wake up everyday in the academy over summer to Trent at his door (or in his bed.) Goodness knows how long it’ll be before they’re together like this again…

Without saying a word, Kirby swallowed a lump and reached up, pecking his lips. Christy and Angie giggled to themselves while Sheldon’s mouth hung open. But Trent’s cheeks coloured and he returned the gesture.

“I love you,” he murmured and the brunette felt his heart take off like a football.

“I…” Suddenly conscious of people staring, he tried not to glare at them but looked at his boyfriend instead, “...Love you too.”

They shared another tight hug before Trent tugged at his suitcase and wheeled it to his father’s car, where he dropped it into the boot and clambered in the back seat, waving at Kirby as they drove away and past the car park gates until they’re out of sight.

Kirby drew in a breath and sprinted to the gates, watching the car wheel down the driveway, looking as equally surprised as Trent as he still looked out the back window. They both smiled and waved goodbye to each other before the car turned towards the bridge and disappeared.

The end of the day neared, and about 90% of students left to go home for the holidays. Dan left to go his folks across the country, so even his best friend won’t be around to ward off boredom much to his dismay. At least Jimmy Hopkins is still around. Kirby only heard rumours but it seems true that his mother is still on a lengthy honeymoon.

That guy is an anomaly. He doesn’t care about being part of a clique, yet he tore down the school’s social structures and more or less took care of the psychotic ones who only caused disorder, such as Gary Smith. He shuddered at that name. At least he’ll no longer be around Bullworth. The world suddenly feels a lot safer for him as he won’t need to worry about anyone discovering his hidden medication.

“Hey, Kirby,” Jimmy greeted him as he sat at the steps to the boys dorm just as the sun was setting.

“Hey,” that came out in a sigh and the fellow classmate sat beside him.

“Bored?”

“Yup - everybody in the team’s gone home for the holidays,” Kirby said, “I can’t exactly practice football by myself, and I’m getting tired of jogging around the football field.”

“Uh-huh.”

“...I would’ve gone home, but mom’s not exactly seeing eye-to-eye with me about my thing.”

“I get it,” Jimmy nodded, not looking at him until he stood up and handed over a bottle rocket launcher. Kirby accepted it, confused but in awe. The ginger grinned. “Let’s have target practice in town.”

That’s one thing Kirby is glad about, and it’s having Jimmy Hopkins as a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank everybody who has Kudos'd, commented or read my fanfic. I am proud of this piece and I loved writing TrentxKirby so much.
> 
> But while I would say that this is the end, it isn't. I got ONE more chapter, a conclusion, to write to finish Kirby Olsen's Downward Spiral.


	11. Conclusion

Days later, I sighed while sitting outside the boys dorm on the steps. Curfew’s in an hour, but I don’t care if I get caught outside. Escaping the prefects has lost it’s appeal after a couple of hundred times. Ahead of me, instead of a usual prefect lingering around, Jimmy approached me while holding two potato guns and held one out to me. He’s staying at school for the holidays because his mom is out on a honeymoon or something, so at least I have someone to play pranks with. This time, he said he found a spare potato gun in the observatory so I accepted it. Well… there’s always more townsfolk to outrun. Running away from a group of angry adults is more fun, especially when it leads to us staying at Jimmy’s beachside house for the night.

Later that night, I just started thinking about life out of boredom while sitting on a barstool. I find it pretty sweet that Jimmy’s got his own bar too. Jimmy’s pretty cool himself. Since that day when we kissed in secret, I’ve been curious to kiss him again, but I didn’t want to betray Trent or something. He’s quite flirty with other people anyway, even after he declared us as a couple. Not many relationships survive Bullworth, but he seems determined to keep us together. So it’s why earlier when I pulled Jimmy close to make out with him I thought it’s what Trent wouldn’t mind me doing. We’re teenagers, after all, we’re bound to experiment. But maybe it wouldn’t work out with Jimmy either. He doesn’t seem to be in an exclusive relationship with anyone, even with that Zoe girl. It’s weird seeing her around again after she disappeared from school for months, but she’s cool.

The mattress nearby creaked and I glanced over to see Jimmy rubbing his eyes. “Can’t sleep?”

I shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not using you because I’m lonely, but it’s because I miss Trent.” It’s true. Despite us seeing each other every few days, I miss him. Like hell.

“No probs,” Jimmy yawned, “I don’t see myself in an exclusive relationship yet. You’re great, Kirby, but you definitely deserve Trent more.” Then he laid back down and began snoring again.

Deserve Trent?

Maybe that’s true. I feel that I shouldn’t, and that he doesn’t deserve me, but I always seem to rebel against my own wishes and what others think. Damn my stupid hormones. But at least Jimmy helped me realise now how much I really lov-- like Trent.

So it’s why I nodded at Jimmy’s words and slipped off the barstool, grabbing my shoes as I left the beachhouse and leapt down down to the soft sand. I took the opportunity to look up at the dim stars above Bullworth. Fucking hell the sky is beautiful.

I dropped to sit back on the sand to enjoy the warm air. Thank god it’s Summer, otherwise I’d freeze to death.

Trent would love it here. He’d tell me how romantic this scene is… Then ask who is more beautiful - me or the stars? Then he’ll say ‘both, because we are all made of stars’ before kissing me…

Whatever stars make up Trent, he’s unique as hell. I remember the day when we were fighting Preps at this very same beach and we were outclassed and brutalised. I remember us limping away to under the bridge before we shared our first kiss, and I acted weird because I just kissed my best non-jock friend… And before that, he kept telling me to run while he fights the preps because my wrist was sprained thanks to that asshole Gary Smith.

But Gary is long gone, the team accepts me as I am, Jimmy is my newest buddy, the new Gym coach is hot… And Trent is my…

Boyfriend.

A sudden urge to see him threw me to my feet and I began to run over to the bus stop. I took the bus back to Bullworth Academy, but instead of going to the dorm to sleep I snuck into the garages and tugged the scooter key from my pocket, unlocking the door and revealing our precious scooter. Trent never took it with him because he said his parents would never have allowed him to take it home, so luckily I’m the co-owner.

And oh god the engine feels so good. And because the police are pricks I put on my helmet before speeding down the driveway while remembering Trent’s home address.

It took a while, but I soon found where he lived just as the sun began to rise. He doesn’t live in a posher area in the Vale, but he’s more in the middle-class section.

I grin and slammed the horn on the scooter as hard as I could.

HOOONK!

The horn startled the neighbours dogs into barking and yelping from their kennels (Thankfully leashed), but the window at Trent’s house opened and he stuck his head out to yell until he paused upon seeing me smirking and waving at him. Trent’s shocked gaping dropped to a warm smile and he left the window, emerging out the front door minutes later in his casual clothing and swung his leg over the seat to sit against me, kissing my cheek.

“I missed you, babe,” he murmured and I felt my heart flutter at last.

“Me too. Where to?” I suddenly ask. I got him now, but now what?

“California?” Trent grinned and I snickered. I suddenly remembered something from a trip to town yesterday.

“Somewhere more close to home… the cinema’s got a Studio Ghibli movie marathon starting in a few minutes.” I haven’t even seen any of those movies yet, but all that I know is that Trent is a huge anime fan. His grip grew intense.

“DRIVE. NOW.”

I happily obliged and we drove into the sunrise like one of those romance movies Trent talks about so much. It’s like the ending of such movies, except we don’t get credits rolling in because there is no end to life until we die. No, this is the end of A chapter. The next one is just around the corner… or next week when the term finally begins.

For now, this chapter in our “movie” ends with us sneaking into Blue Skies to get Trent an ear piercing and us making out on the beach. So what if it didn’t end with dinner and sex? At least we’re having fun.

* * *

The new term has begun and Kirby greeted the bright sunny day with enthusiasm.

Summer break has finally ended, and the time for classes to start is approaching quickly. In the week-grace period before classes, students began flooding back into Bullworth with their belongings and textbooks in preparation for another Academic year. Having spent his entire summer break at the academy, Kirby raced around the campus to greet his team mates with chest-bumps, yells and high-fives. He excitedly ran to the receptionist’s office to receive his curriculum for the new year and he can already see that the homework is going to be a total ballache.

But his team mates can definitely see that Kirby’s changed. It might’ve been the testosterone, or that he’s working out more, but the brunette seems to have grown an inch taller. They’re not mistaken in believing that he’s been at the Gym more often with all the free time during the holidays. Although he’s still getting spots on his face (much to his dismay) he lost the fucks to give. His physical appearance changed, and even Mandy’s been eyeing him up but he remembers that he’s already in a committed relationship so he could only wink at her and watch her regret never taking him seriously. Vance even wolf-whistled as Kirby strutted past the garages to check on the scooter.

“What’s your tale, nightingale?” he teased, leaning against the lock on the door.

“It’s… tragic,” Kirby said, unsure of this background character suddenly paying attention to him. “But there’s a good ending. If Trent shows up, that lazy ass.” A brief look of disappointment crossed the greaser’s face but he shrugged the feeling off and moved away from the garage door with a grin.

“Took a look over there, Olsen.”

Kirby frowned before looking at the direction Vance pointed at and his heart leapt as he saw the familiar car pull up in the car park. Barely before the car stopped in a space the passenger door flung open and Trent leapt out with the happiest expression, ignoring his dad’s shouting in favour of bounding towards Kirby with his arms out.

“KIRBY~!!!”

They literally just saw each other last week.

But it didn’t stop Kirby from sprinting towards Trent before lifting the blonde with his newly-developed strength and twirling him around, much to his absolute shock. As they stopped spinning and put him back on his feet, Trent’s eyes practically sparkled as he realised how tall Kirby’s gotten since before the holidays. He suddenly feels like a maiden.

“You’ve grown taller!” he exclaimed in excitement, holding his shoulders, “I can’t believe it!”

“Better believe it!” Kirby grinned. “I can’t wait to see how the guys react to me growing taller than before!” Trent kissed his cheek and the brunette blushed.

“Help me get my stuff to the dorm, then we’ll start another good year at Bullworth. I even got some good news!” Now Trent looked like he drank 10 cups of coffee.

“What is it? Tell me, man!”

“I got an offer!” the blonde burst happily, “it’s for another hair conditioner advert, but the same guys wanted me to come back!”

“Sweet!” Kirby grinned and nudged his arm, “good on you, Trent! You’ll be in Hollywood before you know it.”

“Actually…” he inhaled, shaking all over, “I AM going there! I gotta be there this weekend, and they gave me the flight tickets too, but they gave me two…” He smirked as Kirby’s eyes widened and he gripped his sleeve.

“I’m coming with you?!”

“Heck yeah!” Trent nodded and the brunette whooped, hugging him. Still embracing him, he whispered in his ear, “technically they wanted someone from my family to keep me company, but they don’t know about my offer and you know that my dad would freak out if I ever set foot outside New England on my own…” He felt his boyfriend nod. Kirby watched as Trent’s dad tiredly wheeled a suitcase over to them.

“Well, Trent, here’s to another year at Bullworth…” he smiled unsurely as his son broke apart from a hug with another male. “I hope you and your… friend enjoy it here while you can.” Trent stepped over and hugged his dad tightly and he ruffled his hair.

“The holidays will be here before you know it!” his son exclaimed, “I’ll keep in touch.”

“That’s my star,” his dad grinned before leaving.

As he drove away, Trent sighed in relief and hugged Kirby with one arm.

“So… you free this weekend?”

“Yup!” the jock laughed and elbowed him playfully. “I got plenty of pocket money saved up too!”

The two left, moving Trent’s belongings to the boys dorm except this time, Trent wheeled his things to Kirby’s room and the brunette paused.

“Wait, why’re you moving in with me?” he said, suddenly remembering that there’s a spare bed in his room. Excitement prickled his skin.

“Because you’re the only roommate I can tolerate!” the blonde laughed, rolling his eyes. “Besides, I can’t stand sharing a room with Thad any longer. He gives me the creeps, talking about yardsticks all the time…”

“Yeah, even his brother can’t stand him,” Kirby nodded.

“Whose his brother again?”

“Don’t tell anyone, but it’s actually Dan.”

Trent hooted with laughter. “That jock?!”

“Yeah! I can’t believe it either! Thad’s younger than him by a year.”

Trent practically pissed himself laughing, sitting down on the spare bed to process the information without falling over to concuss himself. “That’s SO rich! I bet Dan gets ‘little man syndrome’ just looking at him!”

“Hey, he’s a great friend! Don’t diss my pals!” Kirby protested, but he was trying to hide his mirth and walked over to the bed to kiss Trent, and his arms wrapped around him to pull him onto his lap and deepen their kiss.

“At least shut the door, Kirb!” a voice cheered from the doorway and they broke apart to stare at Jimmy Hopkins, with a new black tattoo peeking from under his short-sleeved shirt. “Hey, Trent, how’s the hols?”

“Perfect, now that I got an offer in Hollywood for this weekend!” Trent grinned, still holding his struggling boyfriend. “And Kirby’s coming with me, so could you come up with an alibi for us if anyone asks?”

Jimmy winked and put his hand on the door knob. “Sure, Trent, nobody will know that you two are going to get married in California and come back a lawfully-wedded couple.”

Kirby opened his mouth to shriek but Trent hugged him around his neck, burying his face in his shoulder to muffle his cry.

“Thanks, Hopkins!” Trent exclaimed excitedly and gave him a thumbs up as the young man opposite them grinned and closed the door, leaving the lovebirds alone. Kirby broke free from his grip and he looked like he was about to go Super-Saiyan. Trent stood up and tugged him in for another long kiss and felt the other’s anger dissolve against his lips and tongue as the brunette’s hands fisted in his hair.

“Wow, Kirb,” he breathed against his lips, “you really missed me?”

“Of course I fucking do,” Kirby whispered, kissing him again and lightly shoved Trent back against the bed and they collapsed onto it, hands running over each other’s arms and torsos.

“Love me forever?” the blonde moaned into his neck when his hands dipped past the band of his underwear.

“Fuck yes,” the answer trembled his nerves.

After their steamy kiss, Kirby broke contact to reach into the bedside drawer, tugging out a small square packet and Trent’s eyes widened. Kirby bit back a blush.

“Not right now!” he blurted, “but it’s just in case. When we’re both ready.”

Trent, dazed, nodded and tugged him into an embrace.

“I think I’ve just fallen harder in love with you than I should,” he murmured into his hair.

“Well damn, Trent,” Kirby snorted, dropping the unopened condom in favour of hugging him. “It’s still not too late to leave me.”

“No way!” his boyfriend exclaimed, holding his shoulders, “and miss out on the best thing to have happened to me? Never!” Kirby shut his eyes and hugged him even tighter, saying nothing.

Outside, cheers and celebrations went on as school-friends greeted and enemies tossed firecrackers around. The prefects have given up, the nerds have taken over the library and banned all non-nerd students, the preps got caught smuggling steroids and are crammed into Crabblesnitch’s office, the waters are purified and Kirby just realised that he does have an amazing boyfriend who genuinely loves him. Thankfully their relationship is nothing like Johnny and Lola’s because recently the thought of Trent hating him is terrifying.

“You’re so cheesy, Trent,” Kirby teased and they laughed. “...But at least it means you have a better chance of getting into a movie. You are a pretty good actor.”

“And you’re an amazing footballer,” Trent commented with a grin, “man, we’d make a right couple on the red carpet for my future movie! A star actor and his superstar football boyfriend.”

Suddenly the fire alarm started blaring and students rumbled out the building, but the pair melted together for a long kiss against the chaotic backdrop of Bullworth Academy.

* * *

The Superbowl glittered in glory and screams electrically charged Kirby Olsen's nerves as he sprung into the air to catch the ball and deafening roars intensified with the brightest floodlights ever. His shortness aided him in avoiding being captured as he dodged 3 players and his eyes locked onto the white line, that particular white line ahead, just a few more yards and--

"HE DID IT! OH MY GOD, OLSEN HAS DONE IT AGAIN!" the commentator sobbed, "THE NEW KID HAS DONE IT AGAIN! HE'S SEIZED GLORY BY THE BALLS, TWISTED THEM AND WIN THE FIRST EVER SUPERBOWL TROPHY FOR THE TEAM! THIS IS THE BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT ANYONE COULD MAKE! REMEMBER THIS, EVERYBODY! KIRBY OLSEN, AGED 23, ALSO KNOWN AS THE BEST WIDE RECEIVER IN FOOTBALL HISTORY!"

Dazed from the dogpile and glimmering lights, Kirby grinned and let out the biggest yell his chest could handle and yanked his helmet off to throw it aside and accidentally knocked a crying opponent out - surprisingly it was Damon. His team hooted and hoisted him into the air, showing him off those millions of viewers watching around America.

From the VIP sideline, a blonde man suddenly vaulted over the barricade to the dismay of the guard who supported the opposition and ran towards the team. Kirby's face lit up and his team dropped him to let him run into his arms and got spun around in the air before they kissed.

"That was fucking awesome, Kirb!" Trent yelled above the din of the celebrating crowds and Kirby shouted in agreement.

Trent's expression relaxed but held his hand tight as he gulped and dropped to his knee. Miraculously, the audience, the tv crews and the world stood silent at this behaviour. Kirby stared, knowing what might come up but too afraid to guess. The air grew so tense that you could cut it with a chainsaw. Perceptive people focused on reading Trent's lips, which uttered:

"Kirby Olsen, will you marry me?"

The brunette star smiled greatly, feeling his heart miss a beat and he murmured his answer.

The world cheered beneath the mosaic of stars in the light-polluted sky and the earthquake detectors went haywire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the supportive comments! I had fun writing this fanfic and I will keep wishing that Rockstar Games will someday release Bully 2... *sobs*

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya, and thanks for reading my first fic for the Bully game! I recently played this game and I love it so much, and I especially loved seeing Trent and Kirby holding hands at the cinema during the Pinky mission. I feel I can relate to Kirby - small and wanting to fight everyone until given pretty flowers.
> 
> Also this will be a writing challenge for myself - Write 10 pages worth of words on google docs for each of the 10 chapter. This way, I can teach myself to condense my work.


End file.
